The KPTU-TruckSol union estimates 15,000 members participated in strike rallies held in 16 locations across the country on 7 June 2022, and several thousand more drivers, both members and non-members, joined the strike in solidarity.
Most of Korea’s 420,000 owner truck drivers have seen their earnings eroded in recent months amidst soaring fuel prices and cost of living. However, for the roughly 6.5 per cent of drivers – those driving in the container and bulk cement sectors – who are covered by South Korea’s Safe Rates system, minimum rates of pay based on operating costs, have cushioned the blow, allowing drivers to make a living without driving dangerously long hours, speeding, or overloading their vehicles.
The system was scheduled to be phased out at the end of 2022. The conservative Yoon Seok-youl government had delayed discussion of legislation to extend the system, while promising to crackdown against striking workers.
KPTU-TruckSol demanded that Safe Rates be made permanent, and coverage extended to all vehicle and freight types. The union also wanted road transport economic employers and transport companies in sectors which are not currently covered by Safe Rates to agree to increase pay rates to account for the cost of living crisis.
“The experience of truck drivers in the sectors covered by Safe Rates has demonstrated that making Safe Rates permanent and expanding the system to cover all vehicle and freight types is the best way to protect drivers and all those who use the roads,” said Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the global transport unions’ federation ITF.
The KPTU-TruckSol campaign won the backing of over 40 global safety experts and organisations, including the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and top occupational medicine specialists’ group the Collegium Ramazzini.
Their 9 June 2022 open letter urged the South Korean government “to take the necessary measures to ensure that the South Korean Safe Rates system is made permanent and extended to cover more sectors.”
Then, late on the evening of 14 June, an agreement was reached between KPTU-TruckSol and the Ministry of Transport (MoLIT). It stated the parties “will continue to propel forward the Safe Rates system and promise to discuss expansion to other freight types.”
The ministry also agreed to support measures to ensure union members returning to work face no retaliation.
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SUPPORTING DRIVERS An open letter from safety professional organisations, academics and experts in the fields of transport economics, health and safety and labour relations in several countries urged the South Korean government and National Assembly – the parliament – to make the Korean Safe Rates system permanent and expanded to cover more workers.
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LIVING WAGE The South Korean Safe Rates system, which was passed in the South Korean National Assembly in 2018 and came into effect in 2020, sets minimum ‘safe rates’ of pay for truck drivers who own and operate their own vehicles.
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FAIR ENOUGH Research has shown that by guaranteeing drivers can recover their costs and are paid fairly for all the time they work, the Safe Rates system has helped to reduce dangerous on-road practices such as overloading vehicles and driving while fatigued, which can lead to road traffic accidents.
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ACTION DELIVERS With the Safe Rates system set to expire at the end of 2022 and fuel prices and the cost of living on the rise, South Korean truck drivers went on strike on 7 June 2022 calling for the system’s extension. The action won a 14 June agreement with the government to ‘propel forward’ safe rates and to discuss the expansion of the scheme to cover more drivers.
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DELIVERING IMPROVEMENTS The KPTU-TruckSol union says government and union-commissioned research has found a significant reduction in truck overloading, excessive working time and driving while fatigued since minimum rates have been in effect. It has also delivered better take home pay for drivers and more family time.
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ILO RECOGNITION The clear link between driver pay and safety is recognised in the International Labour Organisation’s Guidelines on Decent Work and Road Safety in the Transport Sector. This includes payment for all time worked and collective responsibility throughout the transport supply chain actors – particularly the companies at the top.
SAFETY
DRIVE
A landmark Korean safety system that sets minimum pay rates for lorry drivers was under threat. In response, members of the truck drivers’ union started ‘unlimited’ national strike action in defence of a ‘Safe Rates’ system that has been demonstrated to make truck driving much safer. A week later, the union won a commitment from the government to ‘propel forward’ safe rates and discuss its expansion.
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