Ready-mixed concrete transport union withdraws ‘indefinite strike’… Transport resumes tomorrow

by times news cr

2024-07-04 11:30:17

Mixer trucks parked at a ready-mix concrete plant in the metropolitan area. 2024.6.30/News 1

The National Ready-Mix Concrete Transport Workers’ Union (REAM Transport Workers’ Union) under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) is returning to work after four days of indefinite strike. Construction sites in the metropolitan area where structural work had been halted are also expected to resume.

According to the ready-mixed concrete transport union and the ready-mixed concrete industry on the 3rd, the ready-mixed concrete transport union’s metropolitan southern and northern headquarters announced that they would withdraw the strike that had been in place since the 1st and resume transport starting on the 4th. An official from the ready-mixed concrete transport union said, “Instead of negotiating transport costs by integrating the metropolitan area, we decided to accept the ready-mixed concrete manufacturer’s proposal to divide it into regions and negotiate.”

The Ready-Mix Concrete Transport Union voted with its members (7,964 people) in the metropolitan area on the 27th of last month to decide whether to implement a strike, and then went on an indefinite strike starting on the 1st. The union demanded that ready-mix concrete manufacturers in the metropolitan area be integrated into one, as in previous negotiations, and that a unit price contract for transportation costs be concluded at once. Starting in April of this year, they sent official letters to ready-mix concrete manufacturers, requesting that they begin negotiations, but the ready-mix concrete manufacturers did not respond to the negotiations.

Ready-mix concrete manufacturers did not engage in collective bargaining based on the decisions of the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission and the Central Labor Relations Commission under the Ministry of Employment and Labor last month and this month that the Ready-mix Concrete Transport Union cannot be recognized as a “union” under the Labor Union Act. Ready-mix concrete manufacturers demanded negotiations in 12 regions instead of the integrated negotiations in the metropolitan area that the Ready-mix Concrete Transport Union had demanded.

The two sides were at odds, but the ready-mixed concrete transport union took a step back, and the negotiation table was set up. As ready-mixed concrete mixer trucks resumed operation, construction sites were able to take a breather. According to the construction industry, on the first day of the strike, ready-mixed concrete pouring was halted at about half of the construction sites in the metropolitan area. A ready-mixed concrete industry official said, “The burden is even greater because the prices of cement and other items have risen, so it is not easy to raise transportation costs,” and “We will try to find a compromise as much as possible.”

Reporter Choi Dong-su [email protected]

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2024-07-04 11:30:17

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