Labor union leader “I have to respond to Lee Jae-hyun’s dialogue”… Company “Non-tolerance principle, take responsibility”
Encourage each person to purchase 500,000 won bonds, and the strike may be prolonged if large sums are secured
On the 10th, the 45th day of the strike, the parcel delivery union (National Delivery Labor Union of the National People’s Trade Unions) took over the headquarters of CJ Logistics and started a sit-down. The strike is expected to be prolonged as it has been confirmed that the courier union is encouraging regarding 7,000 union members to purchase 500,000 won bonds to raise funds for the struggle.
About 200 courier union members broke into the headquarters of CJ Logistics in Jung-gu, Seoul around 11:20 am on the same day. The employees, embarrassed by the unexpected takeover, tried to stop it, but the union members fought and entered inside. In the process, the front glass door was damaged, and some CJ Logistics employees were injured. About 60 union members who occupied the lobby lowered the iron gate to block passage, and laid the glass door horizontally to block the entrance. The union members jumped over the security gate in the building and climbed to the other floor. I went up to the 3rd floor and hung a banner outside the window saying, ‘Lee Jae-hyun (Chairman of CJ Group) must step in himself’. As the siege continued, the situation continued even at night. A quarrel broke out between CJ Logistics officials and union members, and swear words and shouts erupted.
CJ Logistics maintains that CJ Logistics is not a negotiator because courier workers have contractual relationships with individual agencies. In response, the courier union seems to have mobilized a means of physical force to bring CJ Korea Express to the table of dialogue.
Jin Kyung-ho, chairman of the courier union, held a press conference in front of the headquarters at 2 pm on the same day and said, “I decided that someone might go to jail because of the occupation today. I wonder if I would have done it like this,” he raised his voice.
In a statement on the same day, CJ Logistics said, “(The courier union) damaged company property in the process of breaking in and used collective violence once morest its employees.” We will hold them accountable,” he said. The Korea Employers’ Federation also issued a statement criticizing, “The parcel delivery union, whose cause for the strike has weakened, has demanded the intervention of the government and politicians, but when it did not go as planned, they eventually resorted to illegal acts using physical force.”
There is also an analysis that the courier union is trying to revive the fighting spirit by taking over the headquarters. In a video that Chairman Jin recently delivered to union members, he put into action what he said, “I will show the anger of union members through the total counterattack in February.”
The union is preparing for a prolonged strike by encouraging actual union members to purchase bonds worth 500,000 won per person. According to the delivery union propaganda materials and videos obtained by this newspaper, Chairman Jin said, “CJ union members are experiencing serious difficulties in their livelihood due to the strike that has been going on for two months. We earnestly appeal to the union members to purchase bonds of 500,000 won per account.”
The union’s so-called ‘struggle bond’ is a method used to secure funds for protests and press conferences, while helping strike union members who have run out of living expenses. Struggle bonds were also issued during the strike of the health and medical union in 2002, the bus strike in 2011, and the strike in the cable broadcasting union in 2014. In 2009, the KORAIL labor union under the Federation of Trade Unions secured regarding KRW 3.5 billion in compensation for strikes and litigation costs and funds for long-term struggles claimed by the management.
An industry official said, “The courier union pays a union fee of 30,000 won a month, and there are cases where they ask for additional money each time they fight.”
About 1,900 members of the courier union have been on strike since December 27, last year, demanding that the contract be withdrawn with conditions such as improved distribution of parcel fees and same-day delivery. He also asked the government to conduct an on-site inspection, saying that the sorting helpers promised in the social consensus were not properly put in. Last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport concluded, “As a result of checking the implementation of the social agreement, CJ Logistics is implementing the social agreement well.”
Reporter Byun Jong-guk [email protected]
Reporter Lee Kun-hyuk [email protected]
Reporter Lee Chae-wan [email protected]
