Truckers’ union in South Korea votes to end strike amid govt, public pressure

About 62 per cent of the members of a truckers' union in South Korea voted to call off their strike. PHOTO: REUTERS

SEOUL – South Korean truckers have voted to end a nationwide strike that has disrupted supply chains of key export industries, their union announced on Friday.

About 62 per cent of union members voted to call off the strike, according to a text message from the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union.

That came after the government on Thursday ordered striking truckers in the steel and petrochemical industries back to work.

As many as 25,000 unionised truckers and some non-union drivers went on strike on Nov 24 to call on the government to make a minimum wage programme permanent and wider in scope.

But as the government increased pressure, more truckers – faced with the prospect of losing their jobs and sources of income – headed back to work this week.

“The game is over. It is so sad that all we could do is stop our cars, but nothing has changed,” said Mr Kang Myung-gil, a container truck driver who went back to work on Monday after a two-week walkout.

“The union fell into a trap that the government buried,” said Mr Kang, who is not a union driver, referring to the government narrative that the strike is devastating the country’s economy.

“Then, we, living day by day, just have to accept the reality and move on.”

After the strike ended, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s press secretary, Ms Kim Eun-hye, said the government would “unwaveringly abide by laws and principles” on labour issues, adding that the truckers’ action had caused “astronomical damage” to the economy. 

The strike had added to worries after South Korea’s exports fell by the most in 2½ years in November, dragged down by an economic slowdown in China and cooling demand for semiconductors.

This past summer, an eight-day strike by truckers delayed cargo shipments from cars to cement across Asia’s fourth-largest economy before it ended with each side claiming it had won concessions.

But this time, the government rejected the union’s bid to expand minimum protections to other kinds of cargo, including oil tankers, package delivery trucks and auto carries, saying drivers are already well paid. The government has said it would only extend the current wage programme for three more years.

The difference was that Mr Yoon took a harder line than in the first strike, and South Korean industries were willing to suffer short-term losses to keep operations running.

Mr Yoon ordered some drivers back to work, using never-before-invoked powers under a 2004 law, compared strikers to North Korea’s nuclear threat and declined to engage with union representatives.

After a start-work order was issued on Nov 29, traffic at ports began recovering to normal levels, government data shows.

Striking drivers like Mr Kang criticised the union’s leadership for not pushing for more during the first strike in June.

“Our union leaders shouldn’t have walked away without any firm agreement in June. They didn’t see their counterpart could change completely this time, but just left their own people bleeding out,” said a unionised fuel tank driver, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

At the Uiwang Inland Container Depot near Seoul where about 100 striking truckers were camped out, the drivers packed up and some left in tears, taking down banners.

South Korea is emerging as one of the most visible hot spots for growing labour discontent, as workers around the world demand safer conditions and better wages in the face of soaring food and commodity prices.

Meanwhile, Mr Yoon’s hard line on labour has accompanied a rise in his approval rating since the strike began, according to recent data.

A poll released on Thursday by polling firm Gongjung showed that the President’s approval rating had jumped by more than 9 percentage points to 41.5 per cent.

“Mr Yoon’s tough stance won the hearts of some elderly conservatives that have long been antagonistic about labour unions,” said head of pollster R&Search Kim Mi-hyun.

Businesses are also likely to welcome Mr Yoon’s handling of the strike, which could help them keep costs flat when margins are under pressure, analysts added.

“If the government continues to deal with labour issues the way it did with this strike, that would help companies reduce risk,” said business professor Kim Dong-one at Korea University. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG

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