Hite Jinro, the nation’s largest beer and soju maker, filed a complaint against unionized truck drivers on strike on Wednesday, with members of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity occupying parts of the liquor company’s headquarters in Seoul for the third consecutive day.
 
Seoul Gangnam Police Station confirmed that the company lodged a complaint against the unionized truckers on charges of breaking into the company building and disrupting its operations. The police station said it is examining whether the strikers engaged in any illegal acts in the process of staging the sit-in.
 
The members of the truckers solidarity, affiliated with the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union under the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, occupied the first-floor lobby and the rooftop of corporate headquarters located in the affluent Gangnam area on Tuesday over wage and other disputes.
 
The union withdrew 17 out of 37 union members from the first floor on Thursday morning to hold negotiations with the company. Some 20 demonstrators still remain in the lobby while another ten occupy the rooftop.
 
The union is demanding a 30-percent hike in freight fares, which it says have remained unchanged for ten years despite rising oil prices, while the company argues that it has raised the fares 26 percent over the last ten years, with a five-percent increase this year.

The union also requests that the company retract a damages suit and other legal actions against some unionized truckers.