Final deal mandates delivery workers to be freed from sorting parcels by year-end

SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) -- Delivery workers will be banned from sorting parcels and working over 60 hours per week, the final deal between their union and logistics firms showed Tuesday.

The details of the deal, reached last week, were released during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, attended by members from the ruling Democratic Party, the government, the industry and the union.

Under the agreement, the companies must bar all couriers from sorting parcels, a lengthy and exhausting job blamed for long work hours that have led to work-related deaths, by the end of this year.

Hanjin Transportation Co. and Lotte Global Logistics Co. have decided to add 1,000 more workers dedicated to sorting from Sept. 1, when shipment demand tends to surge ahead of the fall harvest Chuseok holiday. CJ Logistics Co. also plans to take a similar step.

The agreement also stipulates that the companies prevent couriers from working more than 12 hours per day and 60 hours per week, and rearrange the work schedule if the workers work more than 64 hours a week on average for four consecutive weeks.

The companies will be required to run a pilot program of a five-day workweek system and to discuss its full implementation in the first half of next year. Most delivery workers currently work six days a week due to their heavy workload.

"The faithful implementation of the deal is more important (than the deal itself)," DP Rep. Woo Won-shik, who led the consultation process, said, adding that the party will work with the government to continue monitoring and supporting the agreement.

The deal was reached after 16 delivery workers died last year apparently due to overwork. The first agreement to resolve overwork was reached in January but fell through, leading to labor disputes and a disruption in shipping.

nyway@yna.co.kr
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