Invested 100 billion won to establish a new logistics center in Wanju, Jeollabuk-do
Local economy expectations ↑… The problem of worker death still remains
“Coupang consistently cuts or distorts the labor of the deceased”
“Employment rules briefing session catering act…it must be completely invalidated”
Photo of the exterior of the New York Stock Exchange in the U.S. at the time of Coupang listing
[아시아경제 김보경 기자] Coupang will set up a new distribution center by investing more than 100 billion won in Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do. As more than 2,000 new jobs are expected to be created, expectations for regional economic revitalization are growing. However, it is difficult to be happy. From last year to the present, a total of five workers died while working in the Coupang distribution center. There is a growing demand for Coupang’s social responsibility, such as improving the working environment.
Coupang announced on the 26th that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Jeollabuk-do and Wanju-gun for the establishment of a new distribution center. This is the first investment in Korea made with funds raised through Coupang’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Coupang plans to invest more than 100 billion won to establish a new distribution center in Wanju-gun.
Coupang said, “The Coupang Wanju Logistics Center, which covers a site of close to 100,000 square meters, is the largest in Jeollabuk-do, and is expected to create 2,000 new jobs.” Coupang announced that it will prioritize hiring local residents and will try to bridge the employment gap according to gender and age.
On the same day, however, the labor community made a criticism of Coupang’s failure to provide support for victims of death and prevent recurrence. According to the National Public Transportation Union, a total of 9 workers died while working in Coupang from last year until now, and 5 of them died while working in distribution centers.
The public transport union pointed out that “Coupang is consistent with the position of reducing or distorting the labor of the deceased despite successive deaths of workers.” As of last year, the percentage of companies disapproving opinions about industrial accidents occurring in Coupang was 28.5%, more than three times higher than the average rate of all domestic workplaces (8.5%).
Asia Economy DB=Jin-Hyung Kang, reporteraymsdream@
After an industrial accident hearing held at the National Assembly’s Environmental Labor Committee last month, Coupang presented a plan to improve working conditions at the logistics center. The main contents of the improvement plan are ▲restriction of the number of consecutive working days for regular and daily workers ▲Expansion of special health checkup targets for nighttime work ▲deletion of the function of displaying UPH (hourly production per hour) for each worker ▲the implementation of a distribution center’s working environment diagnosis.
To reflect this, Coupang is holding a briefing session on changing the employment rules for each center starting this month. The public transport union insisted that Coupang violated the Labor Standards Act in the process. If the revision of the employment rules contains content that is disadvantageous to workers, the consent of more than half of the workers is required. The public transport union said, “It was all about watching a 20-minute explanatory video and getting a signature without prior notice or reading of materials about the employment rules briefing session.”
In addition, “Coupang’s amendment to the employment rules does not have access to the root causes of the pain and death of workers who have to endure as low-wage non-regular workers.” It contains the contents of the disadvantage change that makes it more shrunken.”
According to Coupang’s revised employment rules, employment restrictions for other companies have been strengthened, and separate documents must be submitted in case of sick leave. The content that’the company can grant sick leave’ has been changed to’the company can give extra price to the extent necessary for medical treatment’. The requirements for converting fixed-term employees to life-long contracts have become more stringent than before.
They demanded that “Coupang’s employment rules briefing session, which is only a formal procedure but not a food service that does not properly collect the opinions of workers, should be completely nullified and re-proceed in a manner that allows proper information and opinions to be communicated.”
Reporter Kim Bo-kyung [email protected]