Gwangju and Jeonnam Courier Union Condemns Korea Post for Shifting National Disaster Damages onto Workers

Post Office Courier Union Holds Nationwide Simultaneous Press Conferences
Income Drops Due to National Computing Resources Fire... Demands for Consolation Payments
Union Criticizes Korea Post: "Told Us to 'Work More If You Want to Earn More'"

The National Courier Workers' Union Post Office Headquarters Jeonnam Branch held a "Nationwide Simultaneous Press Conference Condemning the Korea Post Headquarters" on the 27th in front of the Jeonnam Regional Post Office in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju, shouting slogans. Photo by Min Chanki

Courier workers in Gwangju and Jeonnam demanded fair compensation for damages resulting from the disruption of computer systems caused by the National Computing Resources fire.

On October 27, the Jeonnam Branch of the National Courier Workers' Union Post Office Headquarters held a "Nationwide Simultaneous Press Conference Condemning the Korea Post Headquarters" in front of the Jeonnam Regional Post Office in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju. The union criticized Korea Post Headquarters for shifting the burden of the national disaster caused by the National Computing Resources fire onto the workers, and called on the headquarters to present a fair compensation plan for courier workers.

The union pointed out that, due to the system outage, workers had to manually process unsorted parcels and deliver packages by checking each invoice individually as delivery terminals (PDAs) were down, which significantly increased the intensity of work on site. They also highlighted that, as a result of the computer system paralysis, customers were unable to use Korea Post's courier services, leading to a sharp drop in parcel volume and, consequently, a decrease in income during the Chuseok holiday peak season.

The union further stated that they demanded payment of commissions based on the average daily parcel volume during last year's Chuseok peak season, as well as consolation payments for the intensified labor performed while the PDAs were down. However, Korea Post Headquarters responded by offering to pay commissions based on last year's peak season figures and proposed to give workers an additional day's worth of parcels instead of consolation payments, which the union criticized.

They added, "This is an irresponsible attitude akin to telling us to 'work more if you want to earn more.' We firmly reject Korea Post's policy of shifting the suffering of this disaster onto the victims."