(image: Korean Federation of Service Workers’ Union)
BUSAN, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Drivers that work for Three Call, a company based in Busan providing designated drivers for a fee to car owners unfit to drive, have come together to ask for better treatment from their employer.
The Busan branch of the national labor union for relief drivers said it had “began a fight” against Three Call, kicking off a rally held in front of the company’s head office building in the Yongho-dong neighborhood of Nam-gu, Busan.
At the rally, more than 200 freelance drivers took to the streets to protest against alleged unfair treatment by their employer.
Park Jae-sun, the 59-year-old head of the labor union’s Busan office, said this was the first time that freelance drivers in Busan are carrying out collective action.
“The protests will continue until management at Three Call amends the current system that exploits drivers,” said Park.
According to the labor union, the drivers who work for Three Call are forced to make weekly payments and are charged exorbitant fees for insurance premiums in addition to other problems that they face.
The current system operated by Three Call pressures drivers to pay a fee of 175,000 won per week, which permits them to be paid set fees per driving session.
The problem is that the weekly payments to the company are unreasonably high and are causing further problems for drivers.
The average monthly salary for drivers at Three Call is said to be 2.5 million won. But when the weekly payments and insurance premiums are deducted, drivers are only left with less than 1.5 million won.
Park says that because drivers want to make back the money they paid to the company, they end up driving long hours which has resulted in traffic accidents and illness.
According to the drivers, those who are over the age of 50 pay, on average, 138,800 won per month in insurance premiums, which is much higher than the 80,000 won paid by their counterparts working at other competing firms.
Three Call, however, says that the high insurance premiums were due to the significant number of traffic accidents caused by freelance drivers last year, resulting in costlier premiums this year.
Having been established in Busan in 2003, Three Call had more than 1,500 freelance drivers listed in the Busan area by 2009 and established offices in Seoul and Busan in 2016.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
