By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Truck drivers and bus operators Sunday denounced the government's new countermeasure to help them cope with the soaring diesel fuel prices as an ``unpractical temporary remedy.''
The criticism came as the government announced it will implement a tax rebate system from July 1 as a measure to help truck drivers and bus operators survive the diesel price hike.
Through the new system, the government will return them 50 percent of the increase in the diesel prices in tax rebate if the average diesel prices surpasses 1,800 won per liter. As of the fourth week of May, the average diesel price is 1,877 won per liter, and under the new scheme, a truck driver can have 39 won refunded per liter in a tax rebate.
Despite the measure, truck drivers are planning to hold a massive strike on schedule.
``The measure is not a solution at all,'' Shim Dong-jin, director general of the Korea Cargo Transport Workers` Union, told The Korea Times. ``It doesn't reflect the reality and our sufferings. We were already in loss when diesel prices surpassed 1,700 won.''
As the high diesel prices are eating away the thin profit margin of freight and transportation businesses, the government should come up with more practical solutions to hike transportation fare, Shim said.
The union will decide by vote on its members Monday if they will go on a strike on as the new measure fell short of helping them survive the difficulty.
The union members are expected to agree to the strike as most of members have already supported it in a recent poll conducted by the union executives, the official said.
It will be the largest-scale strike by truck drivers since their massive collective action in 2003.
Bus operators threatened to cut down on the frequency of their operations and curtail driving routes by 30 percent from June 16 and increase the figure up to 50 percent from July 1 unless bus fares are raised 40 percent.
``Our leaders will meet Monday to assess the government's new measures. If we conclude it is not a concrete solution, we'll just do what we planned,'' an official from the Korea Bus Traffic Passenger Companies' Association, a group representing bus company owners, said.
Other associations of drivers of dump trucks and cement mixers have already decided to go on a strike on June 16.