News / Workers leave CJ Logistics’ building, but industrial action will go on

CJ Logistics hub terminal. Credit CJ Logistics

CJ Logistics’ sub-contracted workers have ended their 19-day sit-in at South Korea’s largest logistics company.

The move followed the ruling Democratic Party urging the strikers to make “forward-looking” efforts to end their industrial action.

Yesterday party lawmakers Jin Seong-joon and Jang Kyung-tae visited the striking workers and appealed to them to resume dialogue with CJ Logistics’ management.

Among the workers’ grievances is that CJ Logistics has not acted to prevent overwork, and the lawmakers added that the firm should be more involved in resolving the dispute.

The party’s intervention has been widely seen as crucial, as the country’s presidential election is just eight days away and opinion polls show Democrat candidate Lee Jae-myung is slightly behind the main opposition People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.

Some 1,500 workers, hired by CJ Logistics’ delivery agencies, went on strike on 28 December, calling for better working conditions, including higher wages. The company has however, refused to entertain their demands, asserting that they are not direct employees.

The workers are members of the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, whose vice-chairman Kim Tae-wan asserted that the strike would continue. Yesterday he said: “We empathise with the Democratic Party’s proposal and we are welcome to talk. Now, the ball is in CJ’s court.”

However, CJ Logistics Coalition of Delivery Agents, which represents the company’s sub-contractors, criticised the decision to continue striking. It said: “We express our regret that the Democratic Party proposed additional dialogue. It’s uncertain whether the two sides will sit at the table for the discussion.”