Overview
- Union and management accepted a National Labor Relations Commission proposal late Wednesday, agreeing to a 2.9% wage increase and a phased extension of the retirement age to 65 by July next year.
- The walkout began at 4 a.m. Jan. 13 and sidelined roughly 93% of the fleet, with only about 8% of 7,018 buses running on Wednesday in the system’s first two-day strike since 2024.
- City officials said full bus operations would resume with first departures Thursday morning, and emergency transport measures would be withdrawn.
- Seoul expanded subway service by 172 additional runs Tuesday and 203 Wednesday, deployed up to 763 chartered buses, and estimated emergency measures cost about 10 billion won per day.
- The core dispute involved how to calculate “ordinary wages,” with management previously offering a 10.3% raise tied to a new wage system and the union initially seeking a 3% increase with protections including a higher retirement age.