Cargo Solidarity Rally in Front of HiteJinro Factory for Second Day... 29 Cheongju Line Union Members Arrested

Cargo Solidarity Protest at Hite Jinro Icheon and Cheongju Factories
29 Union Members Arrested for Blocking Vehicle Access at Cheongju Factory
Shoot Product Shipments Halted for Two Days... 3.9 Million Bottles per Day

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The Cargo Solidarity Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Public Transport Workers' Union has continued its rally for the second day in front of HiteJinro's Icheon and Cheongju factories.

According to industry sources on the 23rd, the Cargo Solidarity held rallies with about 500 participants each at HiteJinro's Icheon and Cheongju factories the previous day and is continuing a road-occupying strike through today. At the Cheongju factory the day before, around 300 union members staged a surprise protest and blocked the front and back gates with cargo trucks. As a result, the entry and exit of 16 cargo trucks loaded with soju inside the factory were blocked. The police arrested 29 union members on the spot for illegal acts on charges of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act and obstruction of business.

At the Icheon factory, the rally continued from 3 p.m. the previous day. The Cargo Solidarity held a rally in front of the Icheon factory, stating, "The pro-chaebol economic policies of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration are driving cargo workers suffering from high oil prices and low freight rates to the brink," and declared, "We will fight until we crush HiteJinro's collective dismissal of 130 workers and claims for damages."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

HiteJinro has stopped shipping soju products since the previous day, judging that shipping operations would be impossible due to the large-scale rallies. During the previous strike, when the factory entrance was blocked by cargo trucks, liquor wholesalers directly loaded soju and brought the products, but this method was completely blocked as the number of rally participants increased. HiteJinro had been shipping products even at night to increase the shipping rate recently, but this was also nullified by the overnight sit-in protest. HiteJinro expects that the shipment of soju products, which was about 130,000 boxes per day, will be disrupted for two days due to this shipment suspension. This amounts to about 3.9 million bottles per day.

The conflict between the two sides has continued for four months. About 130 cargo truck owners belonging to Suyang Logistics, a subcontracted cargo transport company of HiteJinro, joined the Cargo Solidarity under the KCTU at the end of March and started a strike. Starting with a partial strike in March, they launched a full strike on the 2nd of last month and have continued the strike by refusing transportation even after the Cargo Solidarity's general strike ended. They are demanding increases in transportation fees and empty bottle freight charges, as well as payments for vehicle advertising costs, idling, and waiting costs.

During this process, cargo truck owners illegally parked their trucks near the factory entrance road, occupying the road. HiteJinro is responding by filing civil and criminal lawsuits against them and actively requesting crackdowns from the local government and police. The police have been securing the factory entrance road and nearby roads, but the cargo truck owners' resistance is intensifying. The local government, Icheon City Hall, maintains that apart from imposing fines, practical measures are difficult.

Safety issues have also been consistently raised. On the 9th of this month, a fatal accident occurred on a road near the factory due to illegally parked cargo trucks. At that time, a passenger car passing near the factory collided with a 14-ton cargo truck parked on the shoulder, and the passenger car went under the cargo truck, resulting in the death of the driver, a man in his 30s identified as Mr. A, at the scene. The parked cargo truck was confirmed to be the vehicle of a union member belonging to the KCTU Cargo Solidarity.