Diesel Woes Crushing the Working Class
Construction on the Yeongjong new city within the Incheon Free Economic Zone has stopped after dump truck drivers walked off the job demanding fee raises. Self-employed truckers are striking down in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, while unionized cargo truck drivers are thinking about holding a nationwide strike next month, raising worries of serious logistics problems. There has been a 30 percent drop in the number of fishing vessels going out into the East Sea this year, leading to a 20 to 30 percent rise in prices of fishery products. Each inter-city commuter bus is racking up between W3 million to W4 million (US$1=W1,037) in losses and half of the 100 or so operators of such transport services are in the red. The source of all these troubles is a 60 percent rise in the price of diesel fuel.
Diesel is the preferred means of energy for Korea’s working class. The transportation industry accounts for 80 percent of Korea’s total diesel consumption. Self-employed Korean cargo and dump truck drivers, operators of commuter buses and merchants selling products on the backs of small trucks, farmers and fishermen all rely on diesel.
Up until a few years ago diesel was between 20 to 30 percent cheaper than gasoline. Now it costs the same or more. As global oil prices surge, prices of all petroleum products in Korea have risen, but diesel has gone up the most. Working-class Koreans have been hit hardest.
But so far the government has not put forth any measures to aid working-class Koreans, saying there is nothing that can be done about international oil prices. The government has been offering excuses that lowering oil taxes would boost diesel consumption or that diesel taxes were still lower than gasoline taxes. It seems the government’s only concern has been declining tax revenues, indifferent to the situation facing working-class Koreans.
On Wednesday the government held a belated policy meeting and said it would consider extending the June deadline for the provision of oil subsidies to cargo truck drivers or small-scale merchants. But this is merely a promise to continue an existing support measure and cannot be seen as a new policy aimed at helping the working class.
Fishermen in Europe are striking in protest of rising diesel prices. That’s why French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked EU member countries to lower value-added taxes on oil products and announced plans to create a fund to help working-class French support themselves. Before it’s too late, the Korean government should come out with more aggressive policies to help working-class citizens at least in the area of diesel consumption. During difficult economic times, priority must be given to ensuring the livelihood of the working class.
Source: The Chosun Ilbo
Tags: crisis, Eu, Korea, price rising