South Korea: the death of several delivery men due to overwork worries
A South Korean delivery woman in Seongnam, October 7, 2020. REUTERS / Kim Hong-Ji
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
14 delivery people have died in South Korea since the start of the pandemic.
The unions point the finger at the overload of work caused by the increase in demand for deliveries.
What to react to President Moon Jae-In who announced that the government would look into their working conditions.
Asia's fourth-largest economy relies heavily on these often independent and extremely precarious workers.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Seoul,
Nicolas Rocca
Whether they are scooters, trucks or scooters, whether they are transporting packages and clothes, food, delivery people are very present in the landscape of the South Korean capital.
And Their work has been vital for the country in the fight against the epidemic.
Lou Ha Nyu is 27 years old and delivers meals.
“
I work from 11 am to 11 pm, every day,
explains this independent worker, like the majority of his colleagues.
When the sanitary restrictions were stricter, I had a lot of work, but now the situation has improved a little.
"
He leaves to drop off his order for a little over 2 euros.
With his 80 hours of weekly work, he considers himself lucky compared to his colleagues working for online sales platforms.
"
There are too many deliveries and not enough people to deliver them,"
said Ko Kyu Hyan, head of an independent delivery union.
All the objects are stored in large warehouses, the delivery people are responsible for finding the objects, scanning them and then going to deliver them.
This takes a lot of time so the delivery people have to come extremely early and leave very late.
This is why people are dying from overwork.
"
Their working conditions have moved South Korean public opinion, messages titled "
It's okay to be late
" appeared on social networks
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Employment and Work
South Korea
Coronavirus