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Seoul, South Korea – Every weekday morning, Park Jung-hoon’s first task of the day is to bring a box of bottled water from the fridge. With humidity and high temperatures approaching 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), the bottles quickly became coated in condensation as he carried them out of his basement and loaded them onto the back of his motorbike. He then takes them to coolers installed all over Seoul where fellow food delivery drivers can stop to grab a cold drink.

South Korea is in the midst of a scorching, record-breaking summer that has prompted an increase in food orders as more people choose to stay in their offices and air-conditioned apartments rather than go out to eat. Adding to the inconvenience are the helmets and protective gear that drivers wear for safety as they navigate the congested roads while making deliveries, often climbing stairs carrying bags of food.

While icy water can provide a brief respite, drivers grapple with an enemy even fiercer than scorching weather: in March, in the early stages of the war in Ukraine, gasoline prices hit an eight-year high of 1,904 Korean won ($1.40). ) per liter and in early July reached 2,117 won ($1.60), up from 1,628 won ($1.20) at the same time a year earlier.

Drivers are paid per delivery and fees range from 2,500 ($1.88) to 7,000 ($5.30). The cost for each delivery is determined by an algorithm, taking into account distance, time and weather. For example, drivers can earn more during a rainstorm when traffic is reserved, but the company hasn’t raised fares to account for recent gasoline price hikes.

As fuel prices rise, drivers take less home, Park said. He is now afraid of having to charge his motorbike. “When a gas station attendant asked me how many liters I wanted to put in, my mouth trembled. After refueling, I saw a few drops of gas fall to the ground, and I felt it wasn’t just gas. It was my blood, sweat and tears,” the 37-year-old said.

Park stressed that for drivers, higher fuel prices and a general rise in the cost of living are not only a matter of personal finances but also of public safety.

‘When workers shed blood, nothing happens’

Rising fuel prices mean working longer hours for the same money, rushing drivers and, literally, taking shortcuts to save time. Since drivers are paid per delivery, many will drive faster to squeeze more deliveries into their day. See the article : Vegetable Guy Fieri Advises To Strengthen The Food Budget. And because they’re trying to save time and money, some will choose to eat fast food like store-bought rice balls instead of sitting down for a decent meal. Some reduce their fluid intake to avoid bathroom breaks.

Park said these factors make driving in the city more dangerous. “The streets have become a battlefield,” said Park, who in addition to working as a driver operates Rider Union, an association of about 1,000 food delivery drivers, ranging from students or entrepreneurs delivering part-time to others working full-time. .

Park said he had seen drivers who had accidents continue to make deliveries even if they were injured to pay bills because they had no other source of income. Under South Korean law, delivery drivers and other gig economy workers are classified as independent contractors, not as employees of the companies they ship to, so they do not have the legal minimum wage, paid vacation time, and are not legally entitled to accident insurance. provided by the company.

In recent years, a confluence of factors has driven the explosive growth in the South Korean food delivery market. According to government data, the food delivery market was worth 25.6 trillion won ($19bn) in 2021, up from 17.3 trillion won ($13bn) a year earlier and 9.7 trillion won ($7bn) in 2019.

Park said drivers are not getting their fair share of this growth. “When we make deliveries, if the food is spilled, the customers and the company get very angry, but when the workers spill blood, nothing happens,” said Park, who is soft and simple, and wearing a white polo shirt and khakis. on a July morning when the temperature had hit 30C by 10am.

The rise in energy prices is one part of a broader cost-of-living crisis in South Korea, which only makes life more precarious for groups like food delivery drivers. Inflation hit a 24-year high in June, with food and housing prices rising beyond the budget of many families.

President Yoon Suk-yeol said at a government meeting in early July that the government was working on solutions to ease households’ burden on needs such as energy and food, especially by waiving or reducing import tariffs.

Yoon referred to the task as “a matter of life and death,” adding “when the economy deteriorates, those who are hardest hit are ordinary people and vulnerable groups”.

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Inequality in Busan

Park was born into a working-class family in Busan, a major port city on South Korea’s southeast coast. As a child, he lived in Beomil-dong, a low-income neighborhood of narrow alleyways near the city’s large commercial port. This may interest you : MixNYC adds Clearmountain, Shirley, Germano and Staniulis to the immersive music event. “It’s economically tough, but other than that it’s a fun place to live,” said Park, who has fond memories of the neighborhood’s tight-knit community.

He became aware of the sharp inequalities in his country when from his lowly environment he watched glass and concrete skyscrapers grow on the skyline as bustling harbors came to occupy more and more waterfronts, encouraging fishermen and revelers alike. further to the beach.

“I have a strong impression of the inequality of our country’s assets, that certain people own things and can make money from it, while most people need to try to accumulate assets by working. And it’s a lot harder,” said Park, speaking in the Rider Union’s underground office.

In his youth, he found refuge in novels that explored themes of inequality and unrest. “Taebaek Mountain Range,” a trio of historical novels by Jo Jung-rae set during the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea, makes a special impression. The story details the intense conflict between farmers and landowners at a time when most of Korea’s rural workforce was made to grow rice exported to Japan.

The stories were instrumental in inspiring him to speak up for workers. He studied politics at university and was active on campus, participating in student debates and advocating for students with disabilities. After graduating and moving to Seoul, he took a job as a delivery driver for McDonald’s because it was provided with health insurance and because flexible working hours allowed him to take part in protests and other forms of activism.

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Raising delivery fees

Over the years, Park’s activism has taken up more and more of his time. He delivers on weekends to different food delivery platforms and spends the weekdays at the Roadside Rider Union office in western Seoul. This may interest you : Grubhub Hustles to Catch Up in Business Immediately. Her days are filled with meetings with delivery drivers who come to share complaints and seek advice on disputes with their employers.

In early July he hosted Ryu Ho-jeong, a prominent left-wing politician who at 29 is the country’s youngest member of parliament. He’s pushing for legislation that would offer such workers stronger protections, such as legislation guaranteeing higher shipping costs and creating a driver hotline that can be used to report abuse. After meeting with Park, Ryu issued a statement on his Facebook page that said, “Ultimately, platform workers are the workers who make our environment work.”

Park and Ryu both asked the company to guarantee a minimum delivery fee for drivers commensurate with the rising cost of living and the demanding nature of their work.

The cost of living crisis creates a more tangible reminder of how South Korean society needs a workforce to function. Truck drivers held a nationwide strike earlier this summer in response to higher fuel prices. Like delivery drivers, truck drivers receive a payment per delivery and their net income is vulnerable to rising energy prices.

The strike dominated headlines for days as it threatened to cause a shortage of goods on store shelves, and directly affect some of the country’s biggest companies, such as steelmaker POSCO and major automaker Hyundai Motor Company. In less than a week, the strike cost the company $1.2 billion. In the end, the truck drivers’ action was successful because after a few days off, the government granted the strikers’ demands for a guaranteed minimum transport fare.

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Drivers’ rights

For now, Park wasn’t planning such a large-scale attack as he wasn’t comfortable with such confrontational tactics. He faces the challenging task of trying to organize food delivery drivers, many of whom work for more than one company. These workers tend to spend most of their working hours alone, using their smartphones to find their next job and rarely interacting with other drivers, so Park’s first task is often to convince them they share common interests.

“It’s a matter of persuasion and education,” he said. “Many platform workers don’t have time to learn what they are entitled to under the law, and how they can be improved.”

For example, in January this year, delivery drivers were eligible for national employment insurance, but Park said some workers were still unaware they were entitled to the support.

Park looked forward to the end of the steamy summer weather when at least his morning duty of delivering ice water was no longer necessary. However, he knew that once the heat passed, it wouldn’t be long until winter brought cold winds and the roads were icy. During the summer, he dreads taking orders for sushi, while in the winter he has to deal with customer complaints if the food is cold. An evergreen headache is pizza, which, despite the weather, is hard to keep flat and awkward to carry through tight spaces like building a hallway.

Park married earlier this year and said he and his wife, a former union official who currently works as a house cleaner, are considering whether to have children. She worries that her heavy work schedule will not give her enough time for childcare duties. South Korea is one of the most expensive countries in the world to raise a child, and the couple factored the rising cost of living into their decision.

For now, he hopes the cost of living crisis can lead to greater awareness of the plight of platform workers and will continue to work to regulate drivers. “Being part of this movement makes me happy,” he said.

This story is part of a series of portraits that explore how the cost of living crisis is affecting people around the world.

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