Truckers Launch Walkout

Unionized cargo truck drivers went on strike nationwide Thursday to demand a logistics company's re-contracting with their colleagues, but no major disruption of transport has been reported.

Unionized cargo truck drivers went on strike nationwide Thursday to demand a logistics company's re-contracting with their colleagues, but no major disruption of transport has been reported.

The government and police urged them to return to work, saying the walkout was illegal and unjustifiable. They warned of stern measures against those committing illegal actions.

The Korea Cargo Transport Workers' Union has about 15,000 members nationwide. They demanded Korea Express renew a contract with some 30 individual courier service operators whose contracts with the firm were terminated in March after both sides failed to agree on service fee hikes.

However, Korea Express said demands that they should be acknowledged as laborers were beyond the company's capacity. ``That's for the government, not us, to solve,'' a company spokesman said, The group said about 5,000 of its members will gather in Seoul Saturday to stage a rally, and they are considering driving their trucks up to the capital.

The government urged the truckers to scrap the strike. ``The service fee hike and other working condition issues are between the company and the individual courier operators, not the union. The two sides have almost reached an agreement, but the union intervened and ruptured the talks,'' said an official at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

The government will stop providing fuel subsidies to union members who take part in the strike, and cancel licenses of truckers who disrupt traffic, he said.

``We are considering issuing an order to the striking truckers to return to work, and those refusing the order may face criminal punishment. If they cause damage to logistics companies or non-unionized drivers through disruption of their operations, they will also have to pay compensation,'' he said.

The prosecution also said it will arrest leaders of the group if the collective action disrupts transportation.

Cargo companies said the strike has not disrupted this yet, as there are 150,000 truckers who are not registered with the union. But the union is encouraging non-unionists to join the action.

Police are gearing up to prevent the union from blockading major container warehouses, harbors or highways with their trucks to disrupt transportation, as it has threatened. Some 3,500 policemen were dispatched to major ports and ramps leading to expressways.