South Korea truckers on strike again
UNIONISED truckers in South Korea kicked off their second major strike in less than six months yesterday, threatening to disrupt manufacturing and fuel supplies for industries from autos to petrochemicals in the world’s 10th-largest economy.
With fuel costs soaring, the truckers are calling on the government to make permanent a minimum-pay system known as the “Safe Freight Rate” that is due to expire by the end of the year, and to expand benefits for truckers in other industries, including oil tankers.
The government has said it will extend the scheme for three years but rejected other union demands. The organising union kicked off 16 rallies across the country, including at a port in Ulsan that houses Hyundai Motors’ main manufacturing plant.
The union estimated about 22 000 are taking part in the rallies, while the transport ministry said about 9 600 people attended, and there were no clashes with police monitoring events.
As a noisy rally got under way at transport hub Uiwang, 25km south of Seoul, hundreds of truckers marched around the depot, watched by a heavy police presence, carrying banners and wearing headbands with the slogan “Unite Fight”. They chanted, “We stop, the world will stop!” and “Let’s stop driving to change the world!”
Union officials said about 1 000 truckers gathered at the rally, where the head of the union’s Seoul metropolitan area branch, Lee Kwang-jae, told them to take up key positions to try to block any attempts to make shipments. They planned to split in two groups, half staying at Uiwang and the other half heading to Pyeongtaek, about 44km away, close to ports serving China. At Busan, South Korea’s biggest port, police officers and buses were seen lined up along key routes.
Lead organiser the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union (CTSU) has warned the strike could stop oil supplies at major refineries and transport at major ports and industrial plants. Container traffic at ports has dropped to 40% compared to normal levels since the strike began, the transport ministry said, but added no major damage had been reported so far as companies moved shipments pre-emptively.
The union has said almost all of CTSU’s 25 000 members, about 6% of the country’s truck drivers, will take part in the strike, joined by an unspecified number of non-union members.
The transport ministry estimated that about 8 000 people were camped out at 14 regions to protest overnight.
Earlier this week, Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong said the Safe Freight Rate system had not been proven to improve the safety of truckers but to only raise their incomes, a reason why the government has refused to expand the scope of the scheme.
The union is asking the government to ensure big businesses are held accountable if they violate the minimum wages rule.
Industry giants including Hyundai Motor and steelmaker Posco were forced to cut output by a June strike.
Companies such as Hyundai Steel, petrochemical firms and a battery maker said because the strike was expected, urgent contract volumes were shipped out and necessary raw materials were prepared in advance, but storages space is limited.