"8th Death from Overwork This Year... A Father’s Plea That His Son Be the Last, a Deceased Delivery Worker"

On the 23rd of last month, delivery drivers are seen receiving an increased number of parcels through the automated sorting system at the CJ Logistics Jung-gu Branch Jongno Sub (SUB) Terminal in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, in preparation for the Chuseok peak season. The photo is unrelated to the article content. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Amid a series of overwork deaths among delivery workers, the family of a man in his 40s, identified as delivery worker A, who was hospitalized due to respiratory distress while performing delivery duties on the 8th and later passed away, appealed, "(This year’s delivery worker deaths from overwork) are the eighth case. We hope our son's death will be the last."

B, the father of the delivery worker who died after working in the delivery industry for 20 years, said in an interview with KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' on the 14th, "The president said support would be provided to delivery workers, but I heard it didn’t happen," expressing his concerns.

B explained, "I understand that the government cannot take care of every citizen individually, but after seeing the news about support being provided, I found out it didn’t actually happen."

A, who was a delivery worker for CJ Logistics, suddenly experienced respiratory distress while delivering packages in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, around 7:30 p.m. on the 8th and was taken to the hospital but died.

It is known that A worked more than 14 hours a day, starting work around 6:30 a.m. and finishing between 9 and 10 p.m., delivering an average of about 400 packages daily.

Regarding this, B said, "He washed up at 6 a.m., hurriedly ate a spoonful of rice, and left at 6:30. On Mondays and Saturdays, he came home a bit earlier, but on other days, he came home at 9 or 10 p.m. Is this something a person should have to do?" expressing his frustration.

He added, "When he said he was tired, his words were just 'Yeah, just so-so.' Still, he couldn’t stop delivering packages; he did it to make a living, not for anyone else," he said.

The Committee for Measures Against Overwork Deaths of Delivery Workers held a press conference on the morning of the 17th of last month at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions in Jung-gu, Seoul, expressing their refusal to perform parcel sorting tasks and demanding an increase in personnel. Photo by Yonhap News

On the same day, Kang Kyu-hyung, co-representative of the Delivery Workers Overwork Death Countermeasures Committee, who appeared together, urged the establishment of laws and measures related to sorting work for delivery workers, noting that the deceased A was not covered by industrial accident insurance.

Kang said, "At delivery sites, there are too many cases where workers are not even registered as employees. Even when they are registered, they are implicitly forced to sign forms to exclude themselves from industrial accident insurance coverage. As workers, due to the power imbalance, it is difficult to refuse."

He explained, "Upon checking the deceased’s workplace, five people were sorting packages, but two of them were part-time workers. The wages for the part-time workers were paid by the delivery workers themselves, 400,000 won each, and including the deceased, three delivery workers physically worked to save money."

He continued, "The most fundamental problem is the sorting work. A public-private joint countermeasure organization is needed. I hope such a body is formed as soon as possible to establish measures related to sorting work. Just recently, Representative Park Hong-geun of the Democratic Party proposed the Living Logistics Service Act, and all stakeholders gathered for a signing ceremony. Since this is the first law for delivery workers, I believe it must be passed quickly," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Delivery Workers Overwork Death Countermeasures Committee held a press conference on the 12th in front of the funeral hall at Eulji University Hospital in Nowon-gu, Seoul, to mourn the deceased delivery worker A and announced that deliveries would be suspended on Saturdays.

Jin Kyung-ho, executive committee member of the countermeasures committee, said, "Even the president stepped forward to prevent overwork deaths among delivery workers, but the reality on the ground was this tragic," calling it "a morally unacceptable atrocity."

He added, "When we requested additional manpower for sorting work during the Chuseok holiday, the terminal where the deceased worked refused to participate in sorting work and instead charged 400,000 won. The deceased had to start sorting work from 7 a.m.," he explained.

Participants then urged, "The Ministry of Labor must urgently begin system improvements in the face of the tragic reality of the abuse of industrial accident insurance exclusion applications," and demanded, "CJ Logistics must immediately apologize for the overwork deaths of delivery workers and provide consolation money to the bereaved families."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.