South Korea’s government issued an order Tuesday for some of the thousands of truck drivers who are on strike to return to work, insisting that their nationwide boycott over freight issues has already weakened harming the economy.
Despite facing the threat of license cancellation or even a prison sentence, strike organizers said they would defy the order and accused President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government of suppressing their labor rights and rising fuel costs. Accused of ignoring what he described as worsening working conditions and financial strain. and interest rates.
The order was approved in a cupboard The meeting called by Yoon and among a wider group of truck drivers participating in the walkout targeted drivers of cement trucks. It marked the first time that a South Korean government has exercised controversial powers to force truck drivers back to their jobs under a law amended in 2004.
Failure to comply without a “reasonable reason” can lead to up to three years in prison or a maximum fine of 30 million won ($22,400). Critics have denounced the law as unconstitutional, saying it does not clearly define what qualifies as acceptable conditions for a strike.
Yoon said the truckers’ strike was threatening to “destroy the foundation of our industries,” citing delays in the delivery of materials such as cement and steel to construction sites and factories. They accused the strikers of illegal activities such as disrupting the work of colleagues who have refused to participate in the strike.
“There is no way to justify the act of taking people’s lives and taking the national economy hostage to serve your own interests,” Yoon said at a cabinet meeting. It was not immediately clear whether the government plans to extend the order to drivers transporting steel and other supplies if the strike continues.
Thousands of members of the cargo truckers’ solidarity union have been on strike since last Thursday, in their second nationwide walkout since June, demanding the government make permanent the minimum freight rate system that is due to expire at the end of 2022.
While minimum fares currently apply to shipping containers and cement, striking truckers are demanding the benefits be extended to other cargoes, including oil and chemical tankers, steel and automobile carriers and package delivery trucks.
Yoon’s government has offered to temporarily extend the minimum freight fare for another three years, but balked at demands to broaden the scope of such payments. Officials say the truckers’ strike threatens to cause serious damage to the country’s economy and logistics systems.
About 8,000 truckers participated in the strike on Monday, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and container traffic at the ports was 21% of normal levels as of 10 a.m. Refined oil products. Interior and Security Minister Lee Sang-min said Monday that the strike is estimated to cost the economy 300 billion won ($224 million) a day, but did not say how the government calculated that amount.
Strike damage so far has been largely confined to domestic industries such as construction, and there have been no reports of substantial disruption to major exports such as computer chips and automobiles.