The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 72/No. 27      July 7, 2008

 
(front page)
Korean truckers strike, win
pay raise to offset fuel costs
 
Associated Press
Truckers rally outside Shinsun pier in Busan, south Korea, June 18. The seven-day strike forced cargo bosses to ease the burden of rising fuel and maintenance costs.

BY SETH GALINSKY  
A seven-day strike over skyrocketing fuel prices by thousands of cargo truck drivers in south Korea forced concessions from shipping companies and the government June 19.

The 13,000-member Korea Cargo Workers Union called the strike. Although it accounts for only 4 percent of all commercial vehicle drivers, the union members drive large trucks that are critical to the transport of export goods.

Most of the striking truckers own their trucks and bear the burden of fuel and maintenance costs.

The government deployed 5,700 riot police to major ports to intimidate strikers, but had little impact. By the second day of the strike hundreds of containers were piled up at warehouses in Incheon and Busan ports. While shipping dropped by about 18 percent at Busan, the strike stopped 90 percent of the shipments from the western port of Pyeongtaek and the southern port of Gwangyang.

The Samsung Electronics plant in Gwanju shut down its home appliance factory halfway into the strike. LG Electronics, the world’s fourth largest mobile phone maker, stopped shipments from its factory in Changwon, 400 kilometers south of Seoul.

The truck drivers’ strike received reinforcements June 16 when thousands of construction industry drivers went on strike to demand cheaper fuel and higher pay. At a demonstration in Seoul to launch their strike, many construction workers wore plastic rice sacks and held cooking pots to highlight their situation. Many held banners that said, “I’d rather die than live like this.”

By June 19 employers were ready to toss in the towel. The truckers’ union agreed to end the strike when the major association of transportation firms agreed to increase freight-hauling fees by 19 percent and implement a minimum wage on a trial basis next year. As of June 21, however, more than 7,000 trucks were still idle as negotiations proceeded with individual companies.

The union had also called for an increase in government fuel subsidies. According to the Associated Press, union officials agreed to hold off on the subsidies demand while the government prepared other measures to deal with rising fuel prices. Prior to the strike the government promised to cover half of the increase in fuel prices for truckers and bus drivers.
 
 
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