Courier Union to Hold Vote on 'Strike on 27th'... Concerns Over 'Logistics Chaos' Ahead of Lunar New Year

On the morning of the 6th, participants held placards condemning courier companies at the "Press Conference Condemning Chaebol Courier Companies for Unilaterally Breaking Social Agreement Bodies' Agreements" held at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The Courier Workers' Overwork Death Countermeasures Committee claimed that at the first meeting of the social agreement body on countermeasures for courier workers' overwork deaths, launched in December last year, it was agreed that the sorting work would be the responsibility of the courier companies. However, they asserted that at the second meeting, the Integrated Logistics Association unilaterally broke this agreement. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The social agreement body discussing measures to improve the working conditions of delivery workers has failed to reach a conclusion even at the fifth meeting, bringing the total strike of delivery workers to the brink. With the Lunar New Year holiday approaching and delivery volumes expected to surge starting next week, there are growing concerns about a 'logistics crisis' caused by the total strike of delivery workers.

The National Delivery Workers' Union began a strike vote at polling stations set up at over 200 terminals and post offices nationwide from midnight on the 20th. After negotiations on the responsibility for parcel sorting work broke down during the fifth meeting of the social agreement body discussing improvements to delivery workers' working conditions, the union immediately proceeded with the strike vote. Depending on the vote results, the Delivery Workers' Union will decide on the total strike starting from the 27th. Approximately 5,500 union members belonging to five delivery companies?CJ Logistics, Korea Post, Hanjin Express, Lotte Global Logistics, and Logen Logistics?are participating in the vote. The voting will continue until midnight on the 21st.

Separately from the total strike vote, the social agreement body meetings will continue. A representative of the National Delivery Workers' Union stated, "An additional meeting is expected to be held this afternoon," adding, "Participation in the meeting is under consideration." The government plans to persuade both delivery companies and workers to reach a last-minute agreement, and the decision on the total strike is expected to be finalized based on the results of the additional negotiations.

The social agreement body, which includes delivery companies, labor representatives, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, held three meetings in one day yesterday to conduct last-minute negotiations. However, they ultimately failed to reach an agreement. The main issue is who will be responsible for the parcel sorting work. Parcel sorting refers to the task where delivery drivers select their own parcels from the logistics warehouse.

The Delivery Workers' Union pointed out that although the social agreement body concluded that parcel sorting is the responsibility of the delivery companies, the companies are backtracking, and thus the failure to reach an agreement lies with the delivery companies. Jin Kyung-ho, the senior vice chairman of the Delivery Workers' Union, emphasized, "If the issues regarding parcel sorting, measures to prevent overwork-related deaths, and the Korea Post collective agreement are not resolved collectively within the social agreement body, we will launch an indefinite total strike starting on the 27th."

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