South Korea: end of the truckers' strike which paralyzed supply chains

Striking South Korean truck drivers gather outside a container port in Incheon on June 14, 2022, the eighth day of protests over rising fuel prices that have further disrupted global supply chains.

AFP - ANTHONY WALLACE

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The social movement of the unions, which demanded an improvement in their working conditions and a salary increase, intervened in a complicated economic context, while health restrictions in China and the war in Ukraine have damaged the production of several large Korean companies. .

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Seoul,

After eight days of blocked roads and scattered demonstrations in the country's ports and industrial areas, South Korean truck drivers will return to work on Wednesday June 15 after reaching an agreement at the end of the night on Tuesday between the government and the unions.

" 

Relieved

 "

In a statement, the Ministry of Transport said it was " 

" that the Solidarity Union of Goods Drivers had decided to end its movement, adding that it was " 

.

Authorities estimate the cost of the strike to Korean industry at $1.2 billion.

Inflation

Truck drivers had started a strike to demand the extent of the

which guaranteed them a rate for freight and therefore guaranteed them a minimum income, but also to denounce inflation reaching its highest. level for more than ten years.

The consequent increase in the price of fuel had all the more weakened the situation of those who are considered in South Korea as self-employed.

After an eight-day strike, South Korean truckers were back behind the wheel at the container terminal in Incheon, South Korea, on June 15, 2022. AP - Yun Tae-hyun

Key players in the South Korean economy

Yet they are vital to the functioning of the tenth largest economy in the world, as they showed during the strike.

Hyundai Motor had to cut domestic production, while Posco, one of the world's biggest steel producers, had to shut it down at some of its factories.

In total, exports in the country fell by 13% compared to the previous week.

While social dialogue has long been blocked, the government has called in the army.

A hundred trucks were driven by soldiers.

Finally, the main truck drivers' union announced that the thousands of strikers will return to work this Wednesday. 

(with AFP)

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• South Korea

• Company

• Employment and Labor

• Transportation