’11 hour strike’ Seoul bus average wage is 5.23 million won… City takes care of operations [오늘, 특별시]

Taking the recent city bus strike, which caused inconvenience to Seoul citizens, as an opportunity, the city of Seoul decided to pursue a large-scale ‘measure to improve city bus operation’. Even if buses go on strike, a minimum operating rate is mandated to ensure that operations are not interrupted, and a business management plan is presented to ensure that transportation operators can provide stable services.

The improvement measures announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 11th include that, even if the city bus labor union goes on strike, it will strongly promote system improvement to ensure that the minimum operating rate is observed, just like the subway. Previously, the Seoul city bus union went on a general strike at 4 a.m. on the 28th of last month, but it ended 11 hours later when labor and management managed to reach an agreement on wage negotiations through city mediation around 3 p.m. Even though Seoul city buses are operated on a semi-public system, more than 95% of buses stopped running due to this strike. The city explained, “There were cases where some union members disrupted normal operation, such as blocking buses for union members who did not participate in the strike with their cars.”

The city announced that it plans to propose an amendment to the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act to designate city buses as essential public services as soon as the 22nd National Assembly opens. The current labor union law does not designate city buses as an essential public service, so even if the union goes on strike, it is not obligated to comply with the minimum operating rate, and a full strike is possible. Railways, urban railways, and air transport businesses are designated as essential public services, so essential personnel must be maintained even if a full-scale strike occurs. The city emphasized, “We will correct the behavior that holds citizens’ right to movement hostage.”

In addition, the city plans to prepare comprehensive measures such as diversifying revenue, establishing route adjustment standards, and improving financial support methods to create a stable city bus operation environment. The semi-public system is a system in which local governments maintain publicness by maintaining routes in vulnerable areas in exchange for compensating bus companies’ deficits. However, as the transportation balance deficit accumulates, the burden of financial support increases, which is considered a problem that must be solved to ensure the sustainability of the semi-public system.

In particular, the transportation balance deficit in 2022 reached KRW 857.1 billion as a result of a decrease in transportation revenue due to a decrease in passengers during the COVID-19 period, an increase in natural gas prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and increased freight costs, including higher labor costs. Through this wage negotiation, the average wage of city bus transportation workers in Seoul became 5.23 million won per month (based on average years of service of 8.43 years). The city further added that this is the highest level compared to the wages of transportation workers in other cities and provinces.

To reduce fuel costs, the city plans to introduce 2,498 eco-friendly buses (2,355 electric buses and 143 hydrogen buses) by 2026. We will encourage management innovation in bus companies and explore ways to expand advertising revenues. In order to resolve the problem of overlapping routes between city buses and other means of transportation such as the GTX, light rail, and metropolitan buses, we plan to reorganize overlapping routes through services and establish route adjustment standards to establish a healthy transportation sharing system. am.

In addition, in response to the point that city buses are becoming ‘prey’ for private equity funds, the city emphasized that it is preparing and implementing management measures in each stage of entry, operation, and exit to ensure that the entry of private capital does not harm the public nature of the semi-public system. We plan to revise the evaluation manual to strengthen dividend restrictions, and secure the sustainability of the quasi-public system by sternly dealing with insolvent companies that survive solely on public funds through court receivership, mergers and acquisitions, etc.

Jong-jang Yoon, head of the city’s urban transportation department, said, “Seoul’s city buses have pursued stable operation for 20 years based on a semi-public system, but there were also limitations in not being able to actively reflect the various changes in the transportation environment over the years.” He added, “We are working to address the problems caused by this bus strike.” “We will prepare a plan to operate a more advanced semi-public system,” he said.

Reporter Kim Joo-young [email protected]

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