Delivery Measures Committee: "Sorting Work and Late-Night Deliveries Still Fall on Workers... Total Strike if No Measures Are Taken"

On the afternoon of the 18th, in front of the Hanjin Express headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, members of the Committee for Measures Against Overwork Deaths of Delivery Workers held a press conference condemning the overwork deaths at Hanjin Express.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] Ahead of the peak season before the Lunar New Year holiday, when parcel deliveries surge, delivery workers have called for measures to eradicate long working hours.

On the 18th, the Delivery Workers Overwork Death Countermeasures Committee held a press conference in front of Hanjin Delivery headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, stating, "Even after the government and delivery companies announced countermeasures, five delivery workers have collapsed due to overwork," and added, "Lotte Delivery and Hanjin Delivery have virtually not deployed sorting workers, and CJ Logistics is shifting the responsibility for sorting work costs onto agencies and delivery workers."

According to the committee, since the end of last year, five delivery workers from Lotte Delivery and Hanjin Delivery have collapsed from overwork and died.

The committee stated, "Despite Hanjin Delivery announcing a suspension of late-night deliveries as a countermeasure against overwork deaths, late-night deliveries are still taking place," and "Kim Jin-hyung (41), a worker at the Seoul Sinnoryangjin agency who collapsed on December 22, was found to have made deliveries between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m."

They plan to demand at the 5th meeting of the social agreement body scheduled for the 19th: ▲ 100% responsibility for sorting work personnel and costs to be borne by delivery companies ▲ suspension of night deliveries ▲ allowance for delayed deliveries ▲ normalization of delivery fees. If no agreement is reached, a strike vote among union members will be held on the 20th and 21st, followed by a general strike starting on the 27th.