Exclusion of Parcel Delivery Workers from Sorting Tasks and 60-Hour Weekly Limit... 2nd Agreement of Parcel Delivery Social Council

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The social agreement body for measures to prevent overwork among delivery workers, which includes the government, the Democratic Party’s Livelihood Council, and delivery labor-management representatives, announced the ‘2nd Agreement on Overwork Prevention Measures’ on the 22nd.

On the morning of the same day at the National Assembly, the social agreement body announced an agreement that includes ▲ completion of excluding delivery workers from sorting tasks within 2021 ▲ confirmation of a 170 won increase in delivery costs ▲ limiting delivery workers’ working hours to 60 hours per week ▲ reflecting detailed implementation plans in the standard contract.

According to the agreement, delivery companies and sales offices will undergo a two-month preparation period to ensure that delivery workers are completely excluded from sorting tasks starting next year. To this end, from September 1, before this year’s Chuseok holiday, Hanjin and Lotte Global Logistics will deploy an additional 1,000 sorting personnel, and CJ Logistics will invest either an equivalent number of personnel or costs corresponding to 1,000 additional sorting workers.

The appropriate working hours for delivery workers shall not exceed 12 hours per day and 60 hours per week. The agreement body prepared this plan reflecting the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s review results. If the average weekly working hours exceed 64 hours over four weeks, efforts will be made to reduce the maximum working hours through negotiations on volume or area adjustments. A pilot project for a five-day workweek will also be conducted.

Woo Won-sik, senior vice chairman of the Democratic Party’s Livelihood Council, stated, “This social agreement marks a new milestone in social consensus among all participating parties since the end of last year to prevent overwork among delivery workers,” and added, “The government will continuously monitor and support the smooth implementation of the agreement.”