HiteJinro employees take beer deliveries into their own hands

A truck delivers beer from HiteJinro’s factory in Hongcheon, Gangwon, on Monday. [YONHAP]

HiteJinro employees are stepping up to deliver beer themselves as shipments continue to face delays due to a strike by truck drivers.

Around 250 HiteJinro employees were sent to the company’s beer plant in Hongcheon, Gangwon, as of Monday. The employees drove 50 trucks to ship out beer as of noon, aiming to resume deliveries that were slowed down due to the strike. More trucks will make additional deliveries later in the day.

Some 130 truck drivers, contracted by Suyang Logistics to work at HiteJinro factories and unionized under the Cargo Truckers Society, have been on strike since June, asking for their freight charges to be increased by 30 percent. The union is part of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the more radical of the two major trade unions.

The workers blocked roads at HiteJinro’s factories in Icheon, Gyeonggi and Cheongju, North Chungcheong for over a month since June, but moved the strike to the company’s factory in Gangwon on Aug. 2 where they have also been blocking roads and preventing beer from being shipped out. The Gangwon plant shipped out 25 percent of its normal levels on Aug. 5 but couldn’t make any shipments last weekend.

Local police helped clear the roads, allowing trucks driven by HiteJinro employees to enter the Gangwon plant.

HiteJinro plans to ship out 120,000 boxes of beer from the Gangwon plant on Monday, which would be similar to regular daily shipments at the factory.

Despite shipments resuming, unionized workers are still continuing their strike in front of the plant.

The union also held a press conference in front of the beer company’s headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, requesting the Ministry of Employment and Labor to conduct special supervision on HiteJinro. It claimed HiteJinro is refusing to negotiate with them, and that it fired workers participating in the strike.

Regarding the claims, HiteJinro says it doesn’t directly employ the truck drivers, and thus can’t fire them and shouldn’t be holding discussions with the union. Suyang Logistics, which contracts the truck drivers, suggested a 5 percent rise in freight charges and a 150 percent rise for fees on holidays and weekends. The offer wasn’t accepted by the union.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]