After the June strike, which brought South Korea to a standstill for eight days, costing production and logistics an estimated EUR 1.2 billion, truckers are once again folding their arms to safeguard their salaries against high fuel prices.
Last Thursday, truck drivers kicked off their second big strike, threatening to disrupt production and fuel supplies to industries.
With fuel costs soaring, truckers are calling on the government to renew, on a permanent basis, the minimum-pay Safe Trucking Freight Rates System, introduced in 2020 to ensure fair transport rates during the pandemic crisis period.
They are asking for the system to be expanded to include truckers transporting containers, cement and fuel, among others.
The government said it would extend the scheme for three years, but rejected other union demands. However, the proposed solution did not satisfy the sector’s Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union. Last Thursday, it decided to take to the streets in sixteen demonstrations organized across the country to express its discontent.
22,000 truckers have taken part in the demonstrations, according to sources close to the union. The new trucking stoppage now risks causing the slowdown or suspension of production in many plants, including microprocessor factories.
Translation by Giles Foster
