A powerful union of bus drivers in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, called off a strike planned for Wednesday after reaching a last-minute wage hike agreement with their employers before dawn.

The union, which has about 90 percent of city and intercity bus drivers in the nation's most populous province under its wing, and representatives of the province's bus company owners agreed to a 7 percent wage increase around 3 a.m. Wednesday after marathon negotiations that began at 3 p.m. the previous day.

Following the agreement, the union canceled its planned general strike, set to begin at 4 a.m. on the day. The union claims about 16,000 members at 45 bus companies in the province's 31 cities and counties. The strike, if carried out, could have halted the operations of about 9,300 city, intercity and airport buses. (Yonhap)