The South Korean government is flagrantly denying workers their basic rights by issuing ‘return-to-work’ orders to truck drivers striking over safety laws.
On day five of truck drivers’ strike in Korea, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) asks the ILO and UN for urgent intervention to halt government violations of workers’ rights. Draconian measures against striking truck drivers have been roundly condemned by the ITF, South Korean academics, lawyers and civil society and the international community.
There is overwhelming evidence for the link between road safety and driver pay, international experts and global union leaders told South Korean lawmakers this week. A discussion forum on the ‘Global Trends towards Safe Rates and Implications for Legislative Improvements’ was held in the South Korean National Assembly on 28 September, the day before a parliamentary committee started reviewing an extension of the Safe Rates legislation which is set to lapse at the end of the year.
Image caption: The ITF’s Noel Coard (pictured right with KPTU’s Wol-San Lim) said 20 million workers stood behind demands for Hite-Jinro to reinstate sacked workers and pay a decent rate South Korea’s biggest alcohol maker Hite-Jinro must pay drivers a decent wage, the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s (ITF) Inland Section Secretary Noel Coard told strikers at a rally outside the company’s headquarters in Seoul.
ITF: “Expansion of Safe Rates to all sectors would make this labour conflict unnecessary.” On 16 August, 4 members of the ITF-affiliated Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union Cargo Truckers’ Solidarity Division (KPTU-TruckSol) snuck onto the top of the building housing the headquarters of Hite-Jiro, South Korea’s top alcohol manufacture. The workers have continued to reside on top of the building protesting Hite-Jiro’s deadly squeeze on truck drivers.