South Korea’s unionized truck drivers returned to the road Wednesday (June 15) after the union and the transport ministry reached a tentative agreement to end a nationwide strike that affected ports and industrial centers.
The Department of Transportation and the truckers union agreed late Tuesday to expand the minimum wage system for truck drivers and to discuss extending the minimum wage guarantee for freight to other products. The Transportation Department will also look into expanding fuel subsidies.
Shares in some affected industries rose in early trading after the eight-day strike delayed deliveries of cars, cement and alcohol. This led to production losses of more than $1.2 billion and unsuccessful deliveries in South Korea.
Shares of Hyundai Motor rose 4%, while shares of Hanil Cement were up as much as 7%.
Daol Securities analyst Yoo Ji-Ung estimated that the strikes affected 5,000 Hyundai and Kia vehicles each, but there are enough opportunities for overtime to make up for the production losses from June through the fall.
Steelmaker POSCO, a unit of POSCO Holdings, stopped work at some plants on Monday because there was no space to store undelivered products. However, it is planned to achieve the originally planned production by adjusting maintenance work.