Trucker strike talks end without deal, executive action looms

Economy

Published: 28 Nov. 2022, 17:48 Updated: 28 Nov. 2022, 19:27

Trucker strike talks end without deal, executive action looms

A cargo truck being escorted out of a port in Euiwang, Gyeonggi. [YONHAP]

Striking truckers and the government made no headway in a two hour meeting Monday, with the two sides digging and a threat of executive action hanging over the discussions.

They will meet again on Wednesday.

Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Eo Myeong-so sat down with representatives of Cargo Truckers Solidarity — under the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions — at the government complex in Sejong on Monday.

About 7,600 unionized truckers have been on strike since last Thursday. Some 25,000 truckers, 6 percent of the total in the country, are members of the trucker union.

The cargo truck drivers have been demanding that the government make the freight rate system permanent and expand the type of trucks that are qualified.

Under the system, minimum transportation charges are guaranteed to workers to prevent overwork and speeding. Fines are imposed on shippers that pay less than a certain minimum. The system, which was temporarily adopted in 2020, expires next year.

“We have expressed our position of extending the freight rate system for another three years,” Eo said, adding that extending the system to a wider range of drivers is something the government cannot accept.

Currently, only vehicles carrying containers and cement are covered.

Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Eo Myeong-so, second from right, speaks with members of Cargo Truckers Solidarity before the negotiations start at the government complex in Sejong on Monday. [YONHAP]

“We can no longer stand by and watch the bad habits of selfish collective actions led by a small group of hardline aristocratic labor union leaders rock the economy and cause harm to majority of good workers,” said Lee Sang-min, minister of interior and safety, during a government emergency safety meeting on Monday.

“The government has already accepted the demand from the cargo truck union to extend the freight rate system for another three years for container and cement trucks,” Lee said. “And we are looking for a solution in our discussions with the National Assembly."

The minister warned that the situation could get worse if the railroad union joins the strike, which it has threatened to do, on Dec. 2.

The president’s office on Monday said President Yoon Suk-yeol may approve a minister of land, transport and infrastructure order that would require the truck drivers to return to work.

He could sign the order at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Kim Eun-hye, a spokesperson for Yoon, said the president stressed the need to firmly apply the law in labor-management relations.

“It is important to establish a clear law and principle in any illegal activity whether it is committed by laborers or by management,” Yoon said according to the president’s office.

Under the Trucking Transport Business Act, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport can issue an executive order requiring truckers to return to work.

Those not complying could face up to three years in jail and a fine of up to 30 million won.

According to a government estimates, container port throughput was just 21 percent of normal on Monday morning. Gwangyang, Pyeongtaek-Dangjin and Ulsan ports have been completely shut by the strikers.

Cement production is expected to grind to a halt Tuesday, and that could delay construction nationwide. Cement deliveries are forecast to fall to 5 percent of daily averages, and ready-mix concrete 30 percent.

Construction at 250 sites has stopped.

Major oil refiners say that 70 to 80 percent of their truckers are union members.

Some container deliveries are receiving police escorts, and the military is assisting in making some deliveries.

A metallic bead stuck on the windshield of a cargo truck in Busan on Saturday. Union truckers on strike are accused of firing metallic balls toward two non-union trucks, injuring one. [YONHAP]

Reports of violence have been filed with the police.

“I am very sorry that an illegal violent act has been committed against a truck driver that has been participating in normal delivery,” Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong said on Saturday.

Two union members on Monday were questioned by the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police for stopping a non-union cargo truck driver in Pohang and cursing the driver for six to seven minutes.

In June, a non-union truck driver was attacked when union members hit his truck with metal pipes that smashed the front window.

The government estimates the week-long strike in June cost the economy around 2 trillion won.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]