Courier Union Temporarily Approves Labor Environment Improvement Agreement... Calls Off General Strike

On the morning of the 29th, ahead of the full union member vote on whether to hold a general strike by the delivery workers' union, delivery workers were sorting packages at the Seoul Southeast Logistics Complex in Songpa-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] After conflicts over the working conditions and treatment improvements for delivery workers, the delivery labor union and management have finally reached a social agreement, and the union has decided to call off the strike.

According to the National Delivery Workers' Union on the 29th, the union conducted a general vote among members at seven branches nationwide, including Seoul and Busan, at 10 a.m. to approve the tentative agreement. The turnout was 89%, with 86% voting in favor of the agreement. Originally planning to hold a strike kickoff rally, the union instead held a victory rally. The union stated, "A massive movement to fundamentally change the overwork structure in delivery sites has begun," and "With the approval of the tentative agreement, we announce the end of the strike and the return to work starting from the 30th."

The day before, the delivery labor union and management, along with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, held a six-hour discussion and reached a tentative agreement. The union held an emergency expanded central executive committee meeting to proceed with the approval process and decided to hold a general assembly for all members on the morning of the 29th to approve the tentative agreement. The agreement is reported to be more detailed than previous ones, including specific points such as the deployment of sorting personnel.

Earlier on the 21st of this month, the delivery industry labor union and management had agreed on a first social agreement that codified the responsibility of delivery companies for sorting work. However, the union declared a renewed general strike, claiming that sorting personnel were not being deployed smoothly on the ground, forcing delivery workers to perform sorting tasks again. The delivery union stated, "It has been confirmed that delivery companies issued official letters to branches or sales offices completely denying the agreement," and "The agreement that delivery companies would take responsibility for sorting work was broken just five days after signing the agreement."

Originally, the delivery union planned to hold a strike kickoff rally on the morning of the day. The union represents about 5,500 delivery workers nationwide, approximately 11% of the total 50,000 delivery workers. However, with the rapid increase in non-face-to-face consumption due to COVID-19 and the surge in parcel volume ahead of the Lunar New Year, a strike by delivery workers would have been a burden for both delivery companies and the government. In fact, it is known that the government and ruling party actively engaged in persuasion efforts targeting the union and delivery companies the day before.

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