Cargo Truckers’ Union Illegality Must Not Be Overlooked

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ Cargo Truckers Solidarity is once again threatening the rule of law through illegal acts. Such deviant behavior by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is not new, so it is not particularly surprising. However, it is worth recalling that in a normal country, it is hard to find cases where deliberate illegal acts are left unattended and nevertheless go unpunished.

Cargo Truckers Solidarity, shorthand for the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Headquarters under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ Public Transport Workers’ Union, is collectively refusing transportation under the slogan of a general strike, while also obstructing the transport operations of other businesses and causing physical clashes. Such illegal acts should of course be prevented in advance or stopped.

It is deeply regrettable that the police failed to take active preventive measures against these illegal acts, which were already foreseeable, and instead neglected them, creating a vacuum in the rule of law.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has reportedly requested the deployment of police forces, so it is expected that the current absence of public order can be resolved. Given the high likelihood of illegal acts such as obstructing transportation, occupying traffic lanes, assaulting drivers, damaging vehicles, and blockading workplaces, this is a moment that calls for a strict police response.

Acts that systematically obstruct the operation of vehicles belonging to other businesses must be severely punished in accordance with the law. Violent acts in particular should be dealt with harshly. Violence accompanying Cargo Truckers Solidarity strikes has recurred every time. During the 2008 strike, non-union truckers were attacked with steel ball bearings, and their tires were punctured.

During the 2009 strike, a member of the Pohang branch fired steel ball bearings with a slingshot at another operator’s vehicle, shattering its windows and injuring the driver. In 2012, six cargo trucks traveling on the highway suffered serious damage when stones or steel balls were hurled at them.

Going beyond merely breaking the law, attacking other business operators and using violence against them constitutes a very serious crime. If violence was directed in an organized manner, it should be punished even more severely. In this strike as well, there must be a firm establishment of legal order so that physically blocking the business activities of other operators does not occur.

Although the operators affiliated with Cargo Truckers Solidarity belong to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, strictly speaking, they are not workers but business owners. It is highly wrong for business operators to interfere with and suppress other operators in the same industry, as this restricts competition.

Because these are the business activities of operators, they cannot in essence be protected under labor and strike-related laws. It is extremely dangerous for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to admit business operators as union members, create the pretext of a strike, and thereby enable illegal acts to occur, as this disturbs the social legal order.

The government must hold Cargo Truckers Solidarity accountable for its illegal acts in accordance with law and principle. If the violent acts committed by operators affiliated with Cargo Truckers Solidarity were organized, they too should be punished more severely. Cargo Truckers Solidarity must immediately stop its repeated illegal acts and show that it is fulfilling its social responsibilities as a business operator.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 화물연대 불법 좌시 말아야

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2022-06-08

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=24791