FTC files trucker union complaint

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is filing an obstruction charge against a trucker union for hampering an investigation.

Trucker union’s banners that demand the extension of the Safe Trucking Freight Rates System in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Jan. 10. [NEWS1]

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is filing an obstruction complaint against a trucker union for hampering an investigation.

It was the first complaint the FTC has filed against the Korean Public Service and Transportation Workers' Union Cargo Truckers Solidarity Division.

The FTC initiated an on-site investigation of the union office in Gangseo district in western Seoul on Dec. 2 to look into possible violations of law by the trucker union.

They were pushing to have the Safe Trucking Freight Rates System, which guarantees a wage, made permanent. The government invoked a return-to-work order on truckers as they disrupted deliveries, which could trigger inflation.

The union members did not cooperate in the three days of the FTC’s investigation, refusing to let public officials into the office building.

They blocked the building entrance and the public workers from entering.

Actions by the union were “decided and practiced as an organization, and it resulted in the obstruction of the FTC’s smooth investigation,” the antitrust regulator said in a statement.

On the same day, the trucker union described the FTC decision as “unjust,” saying the Thursday decision was because of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s will to “repress and destroy labor union even if it requires force.”

It added in the statement, “The subjects the FTC should monitor and regulate are not the cargo laborers but chaebol conglomerates and shippers that overuse their power.” They argued the action as labor union is the basic right guaranteed by the constitution.

Obstruction of investigation by the FTC officials can result in imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 200 million won ($162,000).

The union has 22,000 members, 5 percent of all truck drivers in Korea, according to the FTC. In cement delivery, 83 percent of truckers are unionized, and in container trucking 32 percent.

It's difficult to see the union as proper labor union since its members are individual business owners and it did not go through procedures required under the law for labor unions, the FTC said, citing the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]