“Limiting work hours to 8 hours a day, 44-46 hours a week proposed… ‘7-day delivery’ will also be a topic of discussion”
Criticism arises towards Coupang for not submitting an implementation plan… “Social insurance fee issues will be discussed separately”
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jeong-jin – The “Social Dialogue Committee in the Courier Sector,” led by the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 29th that there is a substantial causal relationship between the continuous working hours of courier drivers and death from overwork.
The Democratic Party’s “People’s Livelihood Action Committee” (Euljiro Committee) reported receiving a preliminary result of an analysis, commissioned externally, on the causal relationship between the working methods of courier drivers and death from overwork during a social dialogue committee meeting held at the National Assembly.
Assembly member Kim Nam-geun, speaking to reporters after the meeting, stated, “According to the interim report, excessive weekly working hours and continuous daily working hours have a significant causal relationship with death from overwork,” adding, “There was a proposal to set limits such as 44 to 46 hours a week, 8 hours a day.”
He further commented, “Since night work significantly affects overwork, other industries use shift work systems,” and “the courier industry conducts fixed night labor consecutively, so there was a suggestion to incorporate holidays in between.”
He added, “Consumer groups and consignor groups also agreed to discuss together to resolve the overwork death issue,” and “we will focus on discussions starting in January next year and aim to reach a social agreement before the holidays.”
The meeting also addressed the issue of ‘7-day delivery.’
Assembly member Lee Yong-woo mentioned, “There was a discussion on whether it is appropriate to provide 7-day courier service or if limiting the service to about 6 days would be suitable, and it was decided to take it as a point of issue,” he explained, “Separately, discussions will proceed swiftly on whether an annual mandatory holiday should be set for a certain number of days.”
Criticism was directed at Coupang’s attitude toward the social dialogue committee.
Assembly member Lee criticized, “We have been requesting for over a month to clarify the fulfillment of the insufficient parts from the first and second social agreements, but Coupang’s behavior is very inappropriate,” noting, “They still haven’t brought forward a plan.”
The first and second social agreements set in 2021 focus on ▲ deploying dedicated sorting personnel for couriers ▲ the primary courier company bearing the social insurance fees of courier drivers ▲ prohibiting more than 60 hours of work per week and more than 12 hours of work per day.
Assembly member Lee stated, “A separate meeting will be convened to address the issue of social insurance fees, calling in Coupang and its subsidiaries Coupang CFS, and Coupang CLS to settle it, to prevent the full meeting from being stalled.”