Daejeon City Bus Union Announces '30-Day General Strike'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Daejeon city bus union has announced a total strike on the 30th.

According to the city bus union on the 28th, the strike was approved with about 81% of union members participating in the 'strike approval vote' held the previous day voting in favor.

Accordingly, the city bus union plans to hold a send-off ceremony at 10 a.m. on the 28th and launch a total strike starting from the first bus on the 30th.

Previously, the Daejeon Transportation Business Association and the city bus union held seven rounds of wage and collective bargaining negotiations on issues such as extending the retirement age for union members and improving working conditions, but ultimately failed to reach an agreement.

The city bus union pointed out the issue that while other cities and provinces implementing the semi-public bus system apply retirement ages ranging from 61 years old (Gwangju) to 63 years old (Seoul, Incheon, Daegu), and even Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk, which do not implement the semi-public bus system, apply a retirement age of 62, Daejeon maintains a retirement age of 60.

They also demanded that legal holidays be explicitly stated as paid holidays (with paid allowances) in the collective agreement, citing that among major cities nationwide implementing the semi-public bus system, only Daejeon has not specified such content in its agreement.

The city bus union stated that if their demands are not accepted by the end of the labor dispute mediation application period on the 29th, they will proceed with the total strike.

However, they left room for last-minute negotiations. A union official said, “Considering the difficulties faced by the city bus industry due to the decrease in passengers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible to reduce disagreements regarding wages through negotiations. However, regarding extending the retirement age and improving working conditions, the gap with other cities and provinces must be reduced.”

Meanwhile, the city bus union also announced a strike in 2019, but avoided a bus crisis by reaching a dramatic agreement with the management after tug-of-war negotiations about seven hours before the strike began.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.