South Korean regional bus workers challenge transport minister's status as their legal employer

Gyeonggi Province's intercity bus workers are asking whether the transport minister, rather than private bus companies, should be treated as their employer under South Korea's labor law.

The unions filed an application with the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission seeking to separate the bargaining unit for workers on routes operated under the Metropolitan Transport Commission's semi-public system. Their application identifies the minister of land, infrastructure and transport as the employer and as the bargaining counterpart after the separation.

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The central government, which holds real decision-making power, has withdrawn behind the bargaining process, while private employers avoid negotiations by citing their lack of authority.

The unions argue that the commission effectively determines working conditions. When selecting operators, it sets a base amount that includes driver labor costs and establishes standards for adjusting the contract value. Its bidding documents state that a bidder can be excluded from negotiations if its price exceeds the base amount.

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A blind spot has emerged in which workers' constitutionally guaranteed right to collective bargaining is effectively being neutralized.

In the unions' view, those rules restrict private operators' room to negotiate wages, leaving the commission with practical control over labor conditions. They also say labor-cost adjustments do not immediately reflect wage negotiations at individual workplaces. Instead, adjustments occur two years later and rely on factors such as changes in average labor costs at Gyeonggi bus companies.

A Gyeonggi auto workers' union official said the central government holds real decision-making power while private operators avoid bargaining, claiming they lack authority. The union says this has undermined a regional collective-bargaining system that existed for more than 30 years. The application also tests the Yellow Envelope Act, which recognizes as an employer anyone who can substantially and specifically control or decide workers' conditions, even without signing their employment contracts.

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Because labor costs account for nearly 80% of bus operations, it is reasonable to see the commission as having the effect of deciding wages.