Gyeonggi Bus Drivers Cancel Strike: Intercity and City Buses Run as Usual

A public transport bus depot in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do on September 29, the day before a strike organized by theGyeonggi-do bus drivers’ union (labor representative), which represents over 90% of all public transport bus services in Gyeonggi-do. Yonhap News

The strike by Gyeonggi-do bus drivers was canceled the day negotiations had fallen apart. Labor and management reached an agreement after resuming negotiations that lasted until the early hours of September 30.

The Gyeonggi-do bus drivers’ union (labor representative) of the Korean Automobile & Transport Workers’ Federation, an affiliate of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, and G-Bus, the Gyeonggi-do bus operator (management representative) reached an agreement after 4 a.m. September 30. The labor union had planned to launch a strike after labor and management failed to narrow their differences in the final negotiation, but canceled the strike after the last-minute agreement.

Labor and management agreed to raise the wages of bus drivers by 5%. The two also agreed to a revised collective agreement, which would provide extra pay for bus drivers working on holidays and have bus driver rosters (shift schedules) arranged two weeks in advance to improve the working conditions of the drivers.

Now that the strike has been canceled, all buses in Gyeonggi-do are running as usual.

The labor representative represented over 15,000 union members from 47 bus companies in Gyeonggi-do including the Gyunggi Airport Limousine Bus Co., Kyungki Transport, Kyoengnam Bus, Kyungwon Transport, and Namyang Transport. They own over 10,600 buses (2,100 public buses and 8,500 buses on privately operated routes), which account for 92% of all public transport buses in the Gyeonggi province.