An umbrella labor union has threatened to go on a general strike from next week in protest over the government’s return-to-work order against an ongoing walkout by cargo truck drivers.  

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) said Wednesday that its central execution committee earlier in the day decided to hold national workers’ gatherings in Seoul and Busan on Saturday before implementing what it called a “simultaneous general strike” from Tuesday. 

Calling the return-to-work order an anti-constitutional violence that infringes on citizens’ basic rights and incapacitates the three basic workers’ rights, the KCTU stressed the cargo truckers’ strike is a must-win fight for the organization and all of its members. 

KCTU chief Yang Kyung-soo said the government’s order is tantamount to imposing martial law on the truck drivers, and urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to negotiate with them. 

Yang said the umbrella union will exert all of its energy into the strike, adding all workplaces eligible to the right to strike will join the movement and that all other available means will be deployed.