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While bus unions in 9 regions across the country have announced a general strike tomorrow (26th), they are having last-minute negotiations with the management.
If the negotiations break down, there are concerns about a nationwide traffic disruption.
Reporter Yoo Deok-gi reports.
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The National Automobile Trade Union Federation of the Korean Federation of Trade Unions announced that nine regional bus unions under the umbrella of Seoul, Gyeonggi, Busan, Daegu and Gwangju will hold final negotiations with the management at each local labor committee today.
If an agreement is not reached today, eight unions across the country, excluding Daegu, will go on strike from tomorrow.
Daegu will go on strike from Wednesday, the 27th, a day later.
The strike target is about 45,000 union members and about 20,000 buses.
In Seoul, 98% of all city buses, or 7,235, belong to the union.
In last week's vote in favor of strike nationwide, the strike was passed with more than 90% of the votes in favor.
The union said that the wage freeze and job instability that have continued since the COVID-19 crisis has reached an unbearable level and is demanding the management to prepare realistic wage increases and employment stability measures.
A strike is expected to be decided at the earliest tonight or early tomorrow at the latest.
Although both sides of the labor and management plan to do their best to reach an agreement until the last minute, difficulties are expected until a settlement is reached due to the large difference in positions.
If the strike becomes a reality, each local government, including Seoul, plans to operate an emergency transportation plan by using more subways, replacing rental and charter buses on bus routes, and canceling the taxi subdivision entirely, but it seems difficult to avoid inconvenience to citizens. .