Taking a stand
Angry South Korean taxi drivers strike against carpooling service.
SEoUL: Tens of thousands of South Korean taxi drivers walked off the job and held a rally to protest against a carpooling service that they say would destroy their jobs and threaten their livelihoods.
The demonstration came days after the suicide of a taxi driver who set himself on a fire to protest against plans to introduce car- pooling service Kakao Mobility, a unit of mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp.
“We will have continued consultations with the industry, parliament and the government,” the company said yesterday.
“If the service is implemented, my income will shrink by half. I’ll fall into poverty,” said driver Yoon Woo-seok, 62, at the rally in front of the National Assembly in the capital, Seoul.
Drivers wearing black headbands and ribbons to mourn their colleague chanted “combat illegal carpool”.
South Korea has one of the world’s highest smartphone pen- etration rates, but app-based car-hailing services such as US-based Uber have not taken off, partly because of strong unions and tight regulations.
The protests pose a challenge to the labour-friendly government, which has also pledged to promote new industries to cut reliance on big conglomerates.
According to a survey in October by pollster Realmeter, more than 50% of the public support carpooling.
The taxi strike stranded commuters and disrupted traffic, with some taxis temporarily blocking a road leading to a highway in the central city of Daejeon, according to photos and media reports.
Taxi drivers say they already suffer from low income and long hours.
“My entire family is scraping a living on my tiny income,” said another protesting driver, Lee Nam-soo, 67.
“There’s no way I can survive if Kakao operates.”