[Free Speech Forum] Unionization in the Courier Industry Brings Only Harm

Korea has satisfied consumers with fast and accurate parcel delivery services to the point of being called a “parcel delivery powerhouse.” However, with union involvement in the parcel delivery industry, the industry’s balance has been disrupted. A representative example is the prolonged strike by the union at CJ Logistics. In the past, strikes were carried out under the banner of preventing overwork-related deaths among delivery drivers, but with union involvement, strikes without justification are now continuing. This has produced the side effect of leaving serious problems in parcel delivery services unresolved while only fueling conflict among members of society.

The shift in status from self-employed business owner to worker creates a barrier between consumers and suppliers. Changing one’s status from business owner to worker essentially means “subordination.” Even if delivery drivers wish to manage their work freely during weekends, early mornings, or other convenient times, they are unable to operate as they choose, which restricts the connection between consumers and suppliers. As self-employed business owners, parcel delivery drivers have voluntarily served as a bridge bringing consumers and suppliers closer together on the basis of free contracts. Restricting freedom of contract for the sake of a merely nominal worker status, while forcing not only drivers but also consumers to endure inconvenience, is nothing more than compelling the majority to suffer harm for the benefit of a minority.

Union intervention in the parcel delivery industry destroys a voluntary win-win business structure. In practice, parcel delivery services operate through a system in which delivery companies receive customer orders, and individual vehicle owners affiliated with parcel delivery agencies across the country handle the transport. As self-employed business owners, delivery drivers take on and manage as much work as they wish. Union involvement overlays worker status onto their status as individual business owners, making it impossible for them to work even when they want to. Under the banner of collective interest, individual interest is diminished. The greater the union’s gains, the more the rights of parcel delivery drivers—who are labeled “workers”—are actually reduced. In the market, free contracts are like the flow of water, because they allow an industry to operate flexibly in accordance with market structure rather than becoming rigid. In that sense, artificially disguising the status of parcel delivery drivers, who are individual business owners, by tacking on worker status ultimately goes against the natural flow of water.

Union involvement in the parcel delivery industry, where a free labor market has been formed, encourages conflict among workers themselves. The parcel delivery union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions fundamentally denies the market economy system under the pretense of serving workers. With its anti-market stance, it instead causes real harm to non-union delivery drivers. It discriminates based on union membership, interferes with the work of business operators, and infringes on their rights. Can obstructing individuals’ ability to earn income through baseless strikes truly be called action for workers? This merely demonstrates the harmful effects of Korean unions seeking to expand their power under the guise of pursuing collective interests.

The domestic parcel delivery industry was able to grow significantly as a logistics service supporting everyday life because it operated on the basis of free contracts. Yet as delivery drivers, who have the characteristics of individual business owners, are being granted worker status, they are instead no longer guaranteed the right to conduct their business. To protect parcel delivery drivers, who have been left in an ambiguous position as neither business owners nor workers, legislative and policy improvements that take account of conditions in the industry are needed so that the business structure—under which they earned income according to the amount they worked—can be restored.

The government must establish and present clear principles and standards on how it will recognize employer status and worker status for parcel delivery drivers currently classified as specially employed workers. It should reflect on having hastily issued a union certification to the parcel delivery union, and it must make sustained efforts to restore balance to the operation of the parcel delivery industry through on-site oversight of illegal strikes and measures to address the reckless establishment of unions.

Minjung Kim, Intern Researcher, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [자유발언대] 택배 산업 노조 설립, 오히려 피해만 가득

Author: Min-jeong Kim

Date: 2022-02-11

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=free_opinion&pn=9&idx=24529