Delivery Nation and Karoshi of Delivery Workers 

Min Choi (KILSH, Occupational and Environmental Medical Physician)

South Korea is a famous ‘country of delivery’. The delivery market in South Korea was already estimated at USD 4.7 billion in 2018 and USD 5.5 billion in 2019. Furthermore, both the online platform based food delivery services and the conventional ‘delivery service’ have grown rapidly, as people prefer noncontact purchase since the new coronavirus outbreak. The representative chaebol delivery companies such as CJ Logistics, Lotte Global Logistics and Hanjin reported high increase in both sales and profit in the first quarter of 2020.

Delivery service companies’ boom leaves delivery workers’ overwork. At least twelve delivery workers are estimated to have died from overwork in the first half of 2020. According ‘the present state of industrial injuries of the delivery industry’ by the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service(KWCW)’s, 7 out of 9 delivery workers who died from work from January to June this year have died from brain and cardiovascular disease due to overwork.

However, the official statistics of the government does not reflect the Karoshi of delivery workers accurately. 11,348 out of 18,792 workers registered to the delivery business in May this year are not insured by the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act(IACIA). Delivery persons are not ‘workers’ according to the Korean Labor Standard Act, so they are not obliged for the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. They can insure the IACIA according to the exemption for special types of employment of the IACIA. However, the insured rate of the IACIA is very low because the employer and the employees share the payment equally and both can reject takingreject taking out the insurance. Five overwork deaths reported by the Special Committee on Preventing Delivery Workers on August 11 were not included in the statistics by the IWCW. Therefore, it seems that at least 12 delivery workers died from overwork during the first half of this year in total.

Since delivery persons are not regarded as workers according to the Labor Standard Act, they are not subject to working time limit (40 hours per week, and 52 hours including the overwork). Paid leave at least once per week is not provided, either. Long hour work is the inevitable choice of delivery workers because delivery charges have remained the same for over decades. A research of 2018 showed that delivery persons work 12.7 hours per day and 25.6 days per month on average.

Delivery workers have been claiming a day off enjoyed by all delivery workers since they formed a labor union. At last, August 14 was designated as the “No parcel day” for the first time after 28 years since the delivery industry has started in Korea, due to Delivery workers’ continuous struggle, increased social interests on Karoshi, and intensified overwork after the new coronavirus pandemic During the weekend and a holiday that followed August 14th, a lot of delivery workers could rest for three days.

On Aug. 14, the labor union delivered workers’ messages that ‘my family go on a trip for the first time in eight years thanks to the ‘vacation’’, ‘I will go to hospital for treatment’, ‘I couldn’t take my kid to hospital even when my kid was sick and I’ll go to the hospital for my kid during the leave.’ It shows that delivery workers have been working without proper rest. It also shows that such an event as ‘No parcel day’ cannot solve the overwork problem of delivery workers too.

The Korean government seemed to try to figure out the problem. The Employment and Labor Ministry announced ‘joint measures to guarantee the rest of delivery workers in corporation with Korea Integrated Logistics Association and major delivery companies. The declaration included measures of designating Aug. 14 every year as “No parcel day”, and trying not to have workers deliver until late night to guarantee proper rest of delivery workers. It also contained the messages that companies would support workers when workers have issues of sickness or family events, and try to protect workers’ health. However, delivery workers express frustration and anger for the announcement. The National Courier Solidarity Labor Union criticized this announcement strongly at the press conference on Aug. 13. They claimed that the declaration does not have a single clause that pushes the delivery companies to make fiscal input.

For example, delivery workers have claimed ‘labor input for sorting’ in order to reduce overwork. Currently, most delivery workers start working early in the morning, sorting parcels for delivery themselves for 3-4 hours, and starting delivery. Sorting work is actually unpaid labor. If there were workers in charge of sorting parcels, working time of delivery workers would be reduced by two to three hours. The declaration does not include such practical proposals. The labor union keeps calling for input of workers to charge of sorting job at least until the new coronavirus pandemic ends.

The labor union points out that the declaration is lack of practical proposal for right to rest for delivery workers as well. To guarantee delivery workers’ rest time requires actual replacement personnel, such as more hires or replacement workers system in the form of association among agents.  However, the declaration never mentions any details to guarantee the right to take rest of workers.

The low charges that make delivery workers deliver excessive amounts of delivery items iare another problem. Average price per parcel has been lowered from USD 2.96 in 2000 to USD 1.88 in 2018. Delivery fee has been lowered as the competition among delivery companies intensified and shipping price has been lowered consequently. Delivery workers who receive delivery fees, instead of (fixed) payment, have to delivery as many parcels as they can in order to maintain their income, and this leads them to such long working time. Therefore, it is necessary to guarantee proper delivery fee to prevent their overwork. 

A perfunctory declaration by the government or cannot stop continuous deaths of delivery workers. Another delivery worker who was cleaning a logistics terminal alone died on Aug. 16 (two days after ‘No parcel day’). The growth of delivery industry should not victimize delivery workers anymore. To stop workers’ deaths, detailed and practical measures should be made. We already have answers.