Korean trucker strike ends after 16 days

Economy

Published: 09 Dec. 2022, 15:39 Updated: 09 Dec. 2022, 18:25

Korean trucker strike ends after 16 days

Cargo truck union leadership holds their head down after the members voted in favor of ending the strike at the inland container depot in Eulwang, Gyeonggi, on Friday. The strike lasted for 16 days, the longeset stretch since 2003.

The trucker strike is over 16 days after it started, a majority of union members voting to go back to work, and some just dispersing.

In votes held at 16 locations nationwide, 62 percent of the 3,574 that cast ballots agreed to end the strike.

The decisive climb down came a day after the government said it would order more truckers back to work, extending the legally binding orders to steel and petrochemical truckers. Cement truckers received back-to-work orders last week, and all but one complied or indicated the intent to do so.

Despite the victory, the government says it may double down on its hardline position and seek more concessions from the workers, possibly scrapping earlier promises.

Of the 26,000 unionized truckers, 13 percent voted. Some union branches chose to give in even before the votes.

In Busan, 500 truckers dispersed after announcing an end ti the strike.

“We decided not to ask the opinion of our union members as asking the members to vote on whether to continue to strike is an attempt by leadership to avoid accountability and pass that responsibility to the members,” a Busan union official said. “The general strike didn't end up with the results that we expected was because of the Yoon Suk-yeol government breaking its promise, oppression and anti-labor policies.”

Truckers went into strike on Nov. 24. Cargo Truckers Solidarity, the trucker union under the militant Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), failed to rally public support amid concerns over the weakening economy and several reports of violence directed at non-union truck drivers.

The strikers were also swayed by the heavy penalties of the back-to-work order. They could face up to three years in jail and up to 30 million won in fines for not complying. Threats to end certain government subsidies were also made.

Public support for the strikers was weak, and many people supported Yoon's hardline position, the president's approval rating recently breaking 40 percent for the first time in 5 months.

The labor-friendly Democratic Party, which controls the national assembly, backed down, saying that it accepted the offer from the government to extend the freight rate system for three years.

The freight-rate system, which offers salary-like remuneration to cargo truckers, was adopted during the Moon Jae-in government. It was set to end and the end of this year.

Truckers wanted the freight rate system to become permanent and extended to more types of cargo. They first made the demand in June during a week-long strike, but the government has been skeptical, saying that the system has not been shown to reduce traffic accidents.

Cargo truck union leadership sheds tear after the members voted in favor of ending the strike that has lasted for 16 days, the longest stretch at the inland container depot in Euiwang, Gyeonggi, on Friday. [YONHAP]

While the truckers ended the strike, the union has vowed to continue to lobby for the further extension and expansion of the freight rate system. Truckers say they hope the government and the People Power Party keep the promise to extend the freight rate system for another three years.

The government is weighing its options and may not support the three-year extension.

“The three-year extension proposed by the government and the People Power Party on Nov. 22 was made to prevent national damage caused by the collective refusal to deliver,” Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong said. “As Cargo Truckers Solidarity refused to deliver on Nov. 24, the proposal has become invalid.”

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