Instead of the awaited delivery... the Taekbae Union is coming up

Protest March to Seoul from Yeouido Starting Tomorrow
About 2,000 Vehicles and 5,000 Union Members
Key Issues: Sorting Work Resolution and Wage Compensation

On the morning of the 9th, parcels piled up at the Seoul Complex Logistics Center in Songpa-gu due to the courier union strike. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The National Courier Workers' Union (Courier Union), which has launched a full-scale strike to improve working conditions such as resolving sorting issues, will begin a mass protest in Seoul with all union members starting from the 15th.

About 2,000 vehicles will be mobilized for the protest, and more than 5,000 Courier Union members are expected to participate. Compared to the 2,100 members who participated in last week's full strike, this week's participation has more than doubled. A Courier Union official stated on the 14th, "The rally is planned to be held in Yeouido," adding, "If it is difficult due to COVID-19 quarantine guidelines, we will continue the rally using vehicles." Since there have already been delivery delays in some areas such as Gyeonggi and Ulsan, concerns are rising about delivery disruptions in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul.

On the same day, the Courier Union held protests in seven locations nationwide, including Gyeonggi, Busan, and Gwangju, declaring their intention to escalate the mass protest while urging for social agreement. Starting this week, the Courier Union is strictly controlling 'illegal substitute deliveries,' excluding substitute delivery personnel allowed under the Labor Union Act. For branches without the right to strike, they have decided not to deliver any items that do not have delivery obligations, such as those violating size standards, contract fee violations, or exceeding weight and volume limits. This measure is to intensify the struggle in addition to the collective action refusing sorting work, which includes the existing 9 a.m. start and 11 a.m. delivery departure times.

The main issue is the preparation of wage compensation measures following the reduction of working hours. At the launch of the agreement body, a reduction in volume was proposed as a measure to reduce working hours, and the agenda has been to compensate for the resulting wage decrease through increased fees. However, the Courier Union claims, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is pushing forward a draft agreement excluding fee compensation measures ahead of the second social agreement."

According to the Courier Union, courier workers currently need to deliver more than 260 items per day and over 6,600 items per month, assuming an average fee of 750 won per item, to achieve an average monthly sales of 5.02 million won. If labor hours are limited to under 60 hours per week as proposed by the government, and assuming private courier companies deliver 30 to 40 items per hour, courier workers who only deliver will experience about a 10% wage decrease. The continuation of this strike is expected to be decided based on the results of the social agreement body's meeting, which is scheduled to resume on the 15th.

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