Unionized Bus Drivers in Seoul End Strike After Reaching Wage Deal

Seoul: Unionized bus drivers in Seoul have reached a collective wage deal with the management, ending a two-day strike that caused major disruptions for commuters, according to officials Thursday. The agreement was reached in a special mediation session held late Wednesday at the Seoul branch of the National Labor Relations Commission following marathon negotiations, according to Seoul city government officials. According to Yonhap News Agency, bus services in the capital will operate normally starting Thursday morning after the capital's unionized bus drivers launched their first strike in two years on Tuesday as wage talks broke down. The strike had caused major inconvenience to commuters, with only 562, or 8 percent, of the city's 7,018 intracity buses in operation on Wednesday morning. The strike prompted the Seoul city government to increase the number of additional subway services during rush hour from 172 on Tuesday to 203 on Wednesday. The peak commuter train service hours were also expanded by two hours Wednesday, compared with one hour Tuesday. In addition, the authorities tried to alleviate platform congestion by sending empty trains to heavily congested subway stations during rush hour and increased safety personnel to more than twice the usual level at 86 major stations. The city government said it mobilized 677 chartered buses on 134 routes throughout the capital Tuesday, serving 86,035 passengers. On Wednesday, 86 additional chartered buses were deployed, bringing the total to 763.