Parcel Delivery Staggering Due to Sorting Delays

Union "No More Life at Stake"
Delivery Companies "Difficult to Resolve Cost Issues"
Three Meetings End in Deadlock... Rights Commission "Urgent Need for Government-Level Standards"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The recurring concerns over parcel delivery disruptions during holidays stem from the fact that previous measures have failed to address the fundamental solutions demanded by the parcel delivery workers' union. The union insists that they can no longer risk their lives to handle the surging volume of deliveries. From the companies' perspective, the complex subcontracting and consignment contracts with agencies and delivery workers make it difficult to resolve the sorting labor cost issue in the short term. The repeated conflicts between parcel delivery labor and management inevitably result in harm being passed on to consumers.

◆ Three meetings... deadlock over sorting work = The social agreement body, which includes parcel delivery labor and management as well as 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 union points to the sorting work assigned to delivery workers as a cause of long working hours and even death from overwork. Sorting involves delivery workers sorting the volume for their assigned zones at regional sub-terminals and loading it onto their vehicles. Delivery workers start early in the morning and spend anywhere from 2 to over 5 hours on sorting before beginning deliveries. Unlike delivery work, which is paid per parcel, sorting work is unpaid, leading to controversy over 'free labor.'

Representing the parcel delivery companies, the Korea Integrated Logistics Association stated that they cannot hastily change the fundamental structure of the parcel delivery industry. Without realistic parcel delivery fee adjustments, they cannot bear full responsibility for sorting work. Regarding fee increases, the parties agreed in principle to conduct a study on appropriate fee levels before making decisions. Last year, about two weeks before the Chuseok holiday, around 4,000 union members refused to perform sorting work but withdrew after the government promised to increase manpower. The parcel delivery union warned that if the government does not fully implement the initial agreement, they could leave the field again at any time, which was reenacted during this Lunar New Year holiday.

◆ 3 billion parcels annually... surge during Lunar New Year holidays = The increase in collective actions by delivery workers ironically parallels the growth of the parcel delivery industry. Due to COVID-19, parcel and delivery volumes surged, and competition involving dawn delivery, same-day, and next-day delivery extended working hours from early morning to the next dawn, intensifying labor demands. According to Statistics Korea, parcel volumes grew from 1.198 billion boxes in 2010 to 2.7898 billion boxes in 2019, a 2.5-fold increase over ten years, and are expected to exceed 3 billion boxes this year. The annual number of parcels used per person also rose from 25 boxes in 2010 to 54 boxes in 2019. Particularly, the economically active population aged 15 and over used an average of 99 boxes per person, equivalent to about twice a week. Parcel volumes concentrate heavily during holidays like Chuseok and Lunar New Year, especially amid government efforts to boost domestic consumption by raising the gift value limit for agricultural and livestock products to 200,000 won. An industry insider said, "Although only about 11% of all delivery workers participate in strike votes, considering their share of parcel volumes and the Lunar New Year peak, a total strike would inevitably cause a logistics crisis."

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission proposed policy improvements yesterday to address the issue of 'death from overwork among parcel delivery workers' caused by the recent surge in logistics. The commission stated, "The exclusion rate of special-type workers from industrial accident insurance reaches 85%, mostly due to agency inducement or coercion rather than the workers' own will," and suggested that "the government should establish reasonable standards to improve the environment of long hours and high-intensity work."

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