Five out of Ten Delivery Workers Were in an Accident in the Past Year

[경향신문]

More than half of delivery workers experienced minor and major accidents in their workplace in the past year. The majority of them made deliveries for their primary source of income and many worked ten hours a day, six days a week.

On November 19, Working Voice organized a debate at the National Assembly and released the results of a survey of 1,628 delivery workers in six areas throughout the nation on the status of their contracts and labor.

The majority of delivery workers relied on the delivery work for their livelihood and had contracts with only one delivery service company. In the past, more people made deliveries as a side job, and often had contracts with several companies. This was the reason why they were not eligible for proper protection, such as industrial accident insurance and employment insurance. But 84.8% of the respondents who took part in the latest survey worked in delivery as their primary source of income. People who said they did not engage in any other work except delivery also accounted for 74.4% of the answers. The percentage of people who worked for just one delivery service company was also 84.8%.

Delivery workers are formally defined as self-employed businesses, yet delivery service companies mostly determine their working hours and hand out job-related instructions. The workers are not protected by various labor-related laws, because they are not categorized as wageworkers, but in reality, they work as employees. In the survey, 54.7% of the respondents said, “The time when I start and end work is determined,” and 79.1% answered, “I receive work instructions related to the delivery from the delivery service company or order taking application.”

The average working days of the delivery workers was 5.7 days per week, so it was common for workers to work six days a week. They also worked long hours in a day. They spent an average of 9.6 hours a day just on deliveries and they also spent on average 3.3 hours a day waiting for calls. They earned on average 2,565,000 won a month for their labor. After commissions, taxes and insurance payments, the net income could be smaller.

The risk of accidents was also high. In the past year, 55.3% of delivery workers answered that they had been involved in minor or major accidents. Jeong Hong-jun, a professor at the Seoul National University of Science and Technology who presented the results of the survey said, “Workers are paid a fee per delivery, so the structure makes it inevitable for workers to work long hours in order to earn a certain level of income. Improvements are necessary.”