[Free Speech Forum] CJ Delivery Union Ends Strike, Must Shed “Aristocratic Union” Image and Refocus on Its Core Role

The CJ Logistics Headquarters under the Korean Parcel Delivery Workers’ Union ended its strike on the 2nd, 64 days after launching a general strike. During that time, the strike disrupted parcel deliveries across the country, causing serious hardship for non-union delivery workers. Even during the Lunar New Year holiday, non-union drivers saw their incomes drop sharply and in some cases were unable to work at all. Moreover, a recent video showing union members grabbing a non-union worker by the collar to prevent him from working laid bare the true face of these “aristocratic unions.”

Such abuses by “aristocratic unions” can undermine labor market flexibility. According to a Board of Audit and Inspection review, Seoul Metro engaged in hereditary hiring in 192 cases, showing that even public enterprises have seen jobs passed down through aristocratic unions. There have also been cases in which union officials were caught selling jobs. Entrenched and militant aristocratic unions are pressuring companies to give hiring preference to the children of long-serving employees.

South Korea’s real youth unemployment rate stands at a staggering 19.6%, yet companies swayed by giant unions at large corporations and public enterprises find it difficult even to consider expanding employment. As a result, opportunities for younger generations remain closed off. In fact, Hyundai Motor, widely known for having a representative militant union, has completely suspended new production worker hiring since 2019. Employment rigidity caused by unions seeking only their own interests is robbing young people of hope. No matter how hard one works, it creates a system in which success is impossible unless one’s parents belong to a union or one joins a union oneself.

Militant unions often resort to violence. There have been incidents of illegal occupation of government offices and assaults on public officials, and when a company blocked Wi-Fi to prevent assembly line workers from looking at smartphones, workers responded with collective backlash. At construction sites across the country, brawls between the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions to force in their own union members have become routine. Even during the difficult period of COVID-19, labor unions repeatedly held rallies while illegally occupying the streets, drawing public criticism.

The problem is that the government has effectively granted labor unions aristocratic privileges. As part of its pro-labor policy agenda, the Moon Jae-in administration scrapped the “performance-based annual salary system for public institutions” and “eased dismissal requirements for low-performing workers,” allowing even those fired for illegal labor activities to become union members. Wage system reform to introduce job-based pay in place of the seniority-based wage system was also immediately withdrawn after opposition from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Giant labor unions such as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions are even shaping government policy itself.

The reason labor unions exist is to protect workers’ rights. Yet rather than playing that positive role, they are showing a form of collective selfishness, acting solely in pursuit of union interests. Aristocratic unions are going beyond representing workers’ rights and are becoming vested interests themselves. It is a contradiction that institutions originally created to help workers respond to the unreasonable treatment of entrenched corporate interests and secure their lawful benefits are now producing vested interests of their own.

Only by breaking up excessive vested interests and reforming the labor market can all of us prosper together. What is needed is not “aristocratic unions,” but unions faithful to their original role.

Minjun Kim, Intern Researcher, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [자유발언대] 파업 종료한 CJ택배노조, 귀족노조 벗고 본질되찾아야

Author: Min-jun Kim

Date: 2022-03-04

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=free_opinion&pn=9&idx=24579