SEOUL: Bus drivers in South Korea called off a threatened national strike on Thursday, staging only a brief walkout so as to avoid stranding millions of commuters, union officials said.
Bus services in Seoul and other cities returned to normal for the morning rush hour after the two-hour walkout that began at 4:30am (1930 GMT Wednesday).
"Drivers do not want to cause such great inconvenience to commuters. Children had to go to school and company employees were fretful about arriving late for work," national bus union spokesman Oh Ji-Seop told AFP.
The union had threatened an indefinite strike to protest against a parliamentary bill that would recognise taxis as public transport.
The bill would accord taxi drivers new tax benefits and allow them to drive in bus-only lanes.
Parliament had been expected to adopt the proposed legislation on Thursday afternoon, but members of parliament agreed to a last-minute postponement after the strike was called off.
Ruling New Frontier Party spokesman Lee Cheol-Woo told Yonhap news agency that more time was needed "to persuade the bus industry and quell concerns."
City buses carry an average of 15 million passengers each day. The transport ministry had offered to expand subway operations and provide free shuttle services if the strike had gone ahead on Thursday.
The union said the proposed bill was a populist measure aimed at winning the votes of South Korea's nearly 300,000 registered taxi drivers, ahead of the December presidential election.
- AFP/xq
S Korea's bus drivers call off national strike
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S Korea's bus drivers call off national strike
