On May 2, the country's first network-wide collective contract for truck drivers landed on the Road Song platform, covering more than 3.8 million truck drivers. Road Ge is the foreign brand of Weitian Express (02482), a Hong Kong stock listed company.

This network-wide contract for truck drivers was guided by the National Federation of Trade Unions. The signing of the contract marks a new stage in protecting the rights and interests of truck drivers.

“These breakthroughs have provided an official channel for truck drivers to express their demands,” said Li Qingzhong, chairman of the China Seafarer Construction Union. This also “sets the example” for other freight platform companies, helps drive the entire industry's progress in protecting the rights and interests of truck drivers, and provides impetus for the high-quality development of the industry.

On the same day, a total of 121 employee representatives, including 70 truck drivers, gathered in Fei to attend the 1st Luge Platform (Entire Network) Workers' Congress (Enlarged) meeting. In the end, all parties reached an agreement to form the “Road Ge Internet+Logistics” Platform (Full Network) Truck Drivers' Rights Protection Collective Contract” (hereinafter referred to as the “Contract”). Representatives of all parties signed the contract separately.

According to the Zhitong Finance App, the “Contract” provides legal restrictions on the five major issues of freight revenue, transportation security, negotiation and coordination mechanisms, and rights protection. It stipulates that freight revenue should be determined based on order completion, emphasizes the platform's role in freight payment, requires that freight be paid in full and on time, and settled through the platform; at the same time, establish a mutual assistance system to provide legal aid services to ensure drivers' rights and interests.

Since Road Ge founded and independently operated by Road Ge, the “Card Friend Zone” is the largest professional community for truck drivers in China. Currently, the total number of registered users of the Cardfriend Zone platform has exceeded 340W, and 298 offline community divisions have been established across the country. Therefore, this is not just an employee congress of a digital freight platform company, but a freight industry professional conference of broad significance.

In February of this year, the National Federation of Trade Unions formulated and issued the “Notice on Further Promoting Truck Drivers' Enrollment and Service Work” to promote truck drivers' enrollment and service work, making this work an annual priority. It plans to develop more than 1 million new members by the end of 2024, and achieve the goal of more than 5 million truck driver members nationwide by the end of 2026.

Feng Lei, chairman of Lu Ge, said that the holding of this staff congress and the signing of the collective contract is not only an important step for the company to cooperate in protecting the rights and interests of truck drivers, but also further promote the sustainable operation and development of the platform. As a leading platform enterprise in the industry, Lu Ge will also continue to play an exemplary role and contribute to the high-quality development of the industry.

Weitian Express revealed in its 2023 annual report that its total annual revenue was about 5.616 billion yuan, gross profit of 31.33 million yuan, and gross margin rose to about 5.6%, which remained relatively stable; cash and cash equivalents were approximately $517 million. Weitian Express was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 9, 2023, and is known as “the first digital freight stock”.