Best News Network

South Korea to hold first talks with striking truckers on Monday

Article content

SEOUL — South Korea’s government will meet a striking truckers’ union on Monday for the first talks of a five-day nationwide walkout, as supply chain glitches worsen and concrete runs out at building sites.

The government, which estimates daily losses at about 300 billion won ($224 million) as supplies of cement and fuel for gas stations run short, raised its warning of cargo transport disruption to the highest level.

Article content

But the union held out little prospect of a breakthrough in the second major strike within less than six months, as thousands of truckers demand better pay and working conditions.

Advertisement 2

Article content

“The transport ministry’s position is already set, and there is no room for negotiations, so this meeting is not a negotiation … the content is a demand for an unconditional return to work,” the union said in a statement on Sunday.

The strike is disrupting industrial activity at a time when Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is dependent on exports, faces lower-than-expected growth next year, with the central bank having downgraded its 2023 forecast to 1.7% from 2.1%.

“We need to establish a rule of law between labor and management,” President Yoon Suk-yeol Yoon said on Monday, according to the presidential office.

Yoon, who has criticized the strike as taking the nation’s logistics “hostage” in the face of an economic crisis, will hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to consider a ‘work force order’ for truckers to return to their jobs, his office said.

Advertisement 3

Article content

The law allows the government to issue such an order during a serious transport disruption, and failure to comply can be punished with up to three years in jail, or a fine of up to 30 million won ($22,550).

Strike organizer the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union (CTSU) has criticized the government for being unwilling to expand a minimum-pay system beyond a further three years, instead of meeting union demands to make it permanent and widen its scope.

CONTAINER TRAFFIC DOWN

Container traffic at ports was 21% of normal levels by 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Monday, the transport ministry said, against Friday’s figure of 49%.

The steel industry, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel, saw shipments more than halve to 22,000 tonnes on Sunday, down from the usual average of 46,000 tonnes, the transport ministry said.

Advertisement 4

Article content

Some gas stations could run out of gasoline and kerosene as early as this week, especially in large cities, despite supplies secured ahead of the strike.

That is because about 70% to 80% of truckers for major refiners, such as SK Innovation’s SK Energy and S-Oil Corp, are union members on strike.

Since last week, 259 out of 459 building sites have suspended ready-mix concrete work, the Yonhap news agency said, while the transport ministry said most sites were expected to run out by Tuesday.

The cement industry estimated an accumulated output loss of about 46.4 billion won ($35 million) by Saturday, with shipments down to 9% of usual levels, the Korea Cement Association said.

“Non-union bulk cement truck owners, who are implicitly sympathetic to, or in fear of, the cargo union’s illegal activities, are giving up cement transport,” the lobby group said in a statement. ($1=1,338.4000 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Clarence Fernandez)

Advertisement

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest Business News Click Here 

 For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.