(LEAD) Striking Seoul bus union to resume negotiations with management

▲ A signboard at a bus stop in Seoul on Jan. 13, 2026, shows all buses are parked at a depot. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Seoul bus-strike

(LEAD) Striking Seoul bus union to resume negotiations with management

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead para; UPDATES throughout)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- Striking unionized intracity bus drivers in Seoul will resume negotiations with the management, officials said, after launching an indefinite strike Tuesday over wages that suspended all services and caused major traffic disruptions.

All intracity bus services were suspended starting from the first service at 4 a.m. after wage negotiations between union officials and the management broke down Monday.

Many traffic disruptions were reported across the capital during the morning rush hour, with subway stations crowded with commuters and some opting to walk to work in sub-zero temperatures.

Union officials and the management will hold a new round of negotiations at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the request of the Seoul branch of the National Labor Relations Commission, commission officials said.

The management had offered a wage increase of 10.3 percent in line with a Supreme Court ruling that regular bonuses should become part of an employee's regular wage. To reduce the burden of the added cost, however, it proposed establishing a new wage system that includes bonuses in the base pay.

The union rejected the proposal, however, demanding that the additional payments resulting from the ruling be excluded from current negotiations, and that the management raise wages by 3 percent without revising the wage system, extend the retirement age to 65 and abolish pay discrimination.

More than 7,300 buses run on 394 routes operated by 64 bus companies, all of which are members of the union.

The Seoul metropolitan government has provided alternative transport means for citizens, including by adding trains to subway services during the morning rush hour and extending late-night subway operations to 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Local ward offices will also run free shuttle buses to and from subway stations.

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