11.5 Hours a Day, 83 Hours a Week
Returned to Work One Day After Father's Funeral... Died in Accident
In Jeju, a delivery worker in his 30s who was responsible for Coupang's dawn delivery service died in a traffic accident. As evidence emerges of excessive work intensity and pressure to return to work even during his father's funeral, suspicions of death from overwork are being raised.
On the afternoon of the 12th, the Jeju branch of the National Courier Workers' Union held a press conference in front of Bumin Funeral Hall in Jeju. Photo by Yonhap News
On the 12th, the Jeju branch of the National Courier Workers' Union held a press conference in front of Bumin Funeral Hall in Jeju, stating, "The working conditions of the deceased were among the worst even compared to other Coupang dawn delivery workers."
According to the union's analysis of data from the Coupang delivery driver app, Mr. A typically worked from 7:00 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. the next day, totaling 11 hours and 30 minutes per day. His average weekly working hours were 69 hours (or 83.4 hours when including the night shift premium). These figures are based on actual work records from October 27 to November 2, just before his death.
It was also confirmed that on the 7th, while Mr. A was mourning his father's passing, a branch office employee sent him a message asking, "Will you return to work tomorrow after taking today off?" Mr. A replied, "Please allow me until tomorrow. It is difficult because of my father's passing," and after taking only one day off on the 8th, he returned to work on the 9th.
On the morning of the 10th, while returning to the camp to receive his second batch of deliveries, Mr. A died at the scene when the 1-ton truck he was driving collided with a utility pole.
On the 12th, in front of Bumin Funeral Hall, the union announced the results of its own investigation, emphasizing that Mr. A's average weekly working hours (83.4 hours) exceeded those of the late Jeong Seulgi, who died from overwork last year and was recognized as an industrial accident victim, whose average weekly night rocket delivery working hours were 74 hours and 24 minutes.
The union stated, "The deceased performed high-intensity work, including two rounds of repeated deliveries per day and delivering heavy, bulk items. Despite being in a state of extreme mental and physical fatigue immediately after his father's funeral, he took only one day off on the 8th and returned to work on the 9th, when the accident occurred."
Oh Younghoon, Governor of Jeju, also visited the funeral home that day, saying, "It is very regrettable that he had to return to work without proper rest immediately after his father's funeral. We will thoroughly review what can be done at the local government level to prevent such tragedies from happening again."
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