A labor union has been established at Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, targeting the headquarters and office workers.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) announced on the 17th that it has established the Coupang branch (Cou-nion).
The Coupang branch targets employees from all subsidiaries of Coupang. While there are separate unions at Coupang's logistics subsidiary, Coupang Fulfillment Services, and its delivery subsidiary, Coupang Logistics Services (CLS), this marks the first establishment of a unified union.
In its founding declaration, the branch stated, “We will strive together with our members to improve the unfair treatment of workers and to ensure they are not exposed to excessive working conditions, and we will not back down in protecting and improving labor rights.”
It also mentioned demands including employment stability. The branch asserted, “All Coupang workers have been working day and night under the slogan 'Make the world Coupang,' which has led to Coupang achieving unprecedented rapid growth, but the sacrifice of employees should no longer be taken for granted for the sake of company growth.”
It further pointed out, “The company forces the lowest employee rating ratio under the guise of performance evaluation and pressures recommendations for resignation based on this, while not sharing criteria for salary increases and incentives, but executives held unprecedented incentive parties citing maximum performance as the reason.” It demanded the abolition of the comprehensive wage system and transparent information disclosure from the company.