Ulsan Metropolitan City and Changwon City in South Gyeongsang Province stated they would propose to the National Assembly and government to designate the city bus transportation business as an 'essential public service.' If it becomes an essential public service, even if the city bus union goes on strike, minimum operation rates must be maintained, and violating this can result in criminal punishment. It is a system that effectively restricts city bus strikes.
The designation of city buses as an essential public service was also requested by 17 provinces, including Seoul, last year, but it was unsuccessful. Local governments argue that citizens' right to mobility must be guaranteed since they cover the deficits of city bus companies through semi-public management. In response, the city bus union has protested, claiming that it infringes upon the right to collective action guaranteed by the constitution.
◇Local governments say, 'With tax money spent on city buses, citizens' mobility rights must be guaranteed.'
Essential public services are those areas where a halt in operations can significantly impact citizens' daily lives or the national economy. Public transportation means such as subways and railways fall under this category. The Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act contains relevant provisions.
City buses were initially designated as essential public services when the Trade Union Act was enacted in 1997. However, following recommendations from the International Labor Organization (ILO), they were excluded from this category starting in 2001. At that time, the ILO defined essential public service industries as those that "could jeopardize the life, physical safety, or health of all or part of the population due to a suspension of services."
The argument to reclassify city buses as essential public services among local governments has emerged since the introduction of semi-public management. The semi-public management of city buses aims to guarantee citizens' transportation rights and stabilize bus routes by allowing local governments to support part of the bus companies' deficits. This has spread to more than 10 regions nationwide since its inception in Seoul in 2004.
Local governments that have implemented semi-public management for city buses are injecting hundreds of millions to billions of won in taxes annually into bus companies. Seoul supported 320 billion won last year and invested over 800 billion won during the COVID-19 period. Ulsan City also supports more than 110 billion won each year for bus company deficit compensation, while Changwon City provides about 80 billion won.
Local governments claim that investing such massive amounts of taxpayer money and having city bus operations halted due to strikes contradicts the purpose of semi-public management. They contend that since local governments invest taxes for public reasons, a minimum level of mobility rights for citizens must be guaranteed.
This is not the first time local governments have made such demands. After experiencing strikes last year, Seoul requested the Ministry of Employment and Labor through the Council of Mayors and Governors to include city buses as essential public services, but it was unsuccessful. At that time, the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated that it was 'difficult to accommodate' the request from local governments, noting that 'the issue of designating essential public services should be carefully considered due to differing opinions between labor and management.'
Nonetheless, the fact that local governments such as Ulsan and Changwon have decided to propose again is due to their judgment that citizens are experiencing significant inconvenience. In Changwon, a city bus strike lasted for six days from May 28 to June 2 of this year. During the strike, operations of 669 buses, or 95% of the total city buses, were stopped. On the 7th, 702 buses participated in the strike in Ulsan, representing 80% of all city buses.
◇Union claims 'strike effectiveness diminished... an issue concerning workers' rights.'
The city bus union is not in a position to accept these claims from local governments. According to the constitution, workers are guaranteed the right to unity, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to collective action, of which the right to collective action may be limited. Collective action includes strikes and work-to-rule actions that workers undertake to protect their rights, such as wage increases.
Unions in sectors designated as essential public services, such as subways, aviation, and railways, maintain operation rates of about 90% even during strikes according to labor-management agreements. Failure to adhere to this operational rate can result in imprisonment of up to three years or fines of up to 30 million won.
In this context, labor circles argue that the effectiveness of the strike has diminished compared to a full strike. For this reason, labor in sectors designated as essential public services has also demanded a removal of that designation.
A representative from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' National Automotive Workers' Union remarked, "Designation as an essential public service is an issue concerning workers' rights," adding that "it cannot be advanced solely on the basis of a specific local government's views."
There are also opinions that it is not equitable to re-designate only city buses as essential public services. In the past, the government excluded not only city buses but also banks and other sectors from the list of essential public services during the amendment of the Trade Union Act.