A union of part-time workers and labor activists called Thursday for the arrest of the CEO of E-Land Park and a crackdown on alleged unfair labor practices.
Eight groups including the Arbeit Workers Union and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference in front of the E-Land Park headquarters in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, to demand that the company‘s food business CEO, Park Hyeong-sik, be taken into custody for breaking labor laws.
“Many of the workers affected by E-Land Park’s meticulous violations of labor laws that had been going on for a long period of time were young people who work for minimum wage,” they said.
The company, which operates restaurant chains, such as Ashley and Nature Kitchen, was found by the Labor Ministry to have unfairly withheld nearly 8.4 billion won ($7 million) from 44,360 part-time workers.
The labor violations were first made public by Rep. Lee Jung-mi of the Justice Party during a parliamentary audit. E-Land Park was found to have unfairly cut wages by calculating work time in 15-minute intervals to reduce hourly pay and preventing workers from taking breaks.
The findings by the Labor Ministry led to public outrage, with consumers encouraging a boycott of E-Land Group‘s products and services on social media. After the widespread outcry, E-Land Group posted an official apology on Wednesday.
“We have actively cooperated with the investigation by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to once again check all of our stores, and are taking action to compensate all unpaid wages,” the company said through a statement.
However, the public’s response has been icy, with lawmaker Lee releasing additional information Thursday including statements from former E-Land workers about how they were coached ahead of visits from the Labor Ministry, or told to consider extended work hours as “service” to the company. Lists of E-Land affiliates are circulating on social media as boycott guidelines.
This is not the first time that E-Land has been swept up in labor controversy. In 2007, the group fired approximately 1,000 workers from its retail affiliates NewCore and Homever, leading to a 512-day strike that was later depicted in the 2014 film “Cart.”
The part-time workers‘ union released a statement saying that E-Land was just the beginning, naming food corporation SPC and the three-largest convenience store chains 7-Eleven, CU, and GS25 as other companies that they said were infamous among part-time workers for their labor violations.
SPC operates Paris Baguette, Paris Croissant, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins in Korea.
By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)
Eight groups including the Arbeit Workers Union and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference in front of the E-Land Park headquarters in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, to demand that the company‘s food business CEO, Park Hyeong-sik, be taken into custody for breaking labor laws.
“Many of the workers affected by E-Land Park’s meticulous violations of labor laws that had been going on for a long period of time were young people who work for minimum wage,” they said.
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| Activists hold a press conference outside of E-Land Park headquarters in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
The company, which operates restaurant chains, such as Ashley and Nature Kitchen, was found by the Labor Ministry to have unfairly withheld nearly 8.4 billion won ($7 million) from 44,360 part-time workers.
The labor violations were first made public by Rep. Lee Jung-mi of the Justice Party during a parliamentary audit. E-Land Park was found to have unfairly cut wages by calculating work time in 15-minute intervals to reduce hourly pay and preventing workers from taking breaks.
The findings by the Labor Ministry led to public outrage, with consumers encouraging a boycott of E-Land Group‘s products and services on social media. After the widespread outcry, E-Land Group posted an official apology on Wednesday.
“We have actively cooperated with the investigation by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to once again check all of our stores, and are taking action to compensate all unpaid wages,” the company said through a statement.
However, the public’s response has been icy, with lawmaker Lee releasing additional information Thursday including statements from former E-Land workers about how they were coached ahead of visits from the Labor Ministry, or told to consider extended work hours as “service” to the company. Lists of E-Land affiliates are circulating on social media as boycott guidelines.
This is not the first time that E-Land has been swept up in labor controversy. In 2007, the group fired approximately 1,000 workers from its retail affiliates NewCore and Homever, leading to a 512-day strike that was later depicted in the 2014 film “Cart.”
The part-time workers‘ union released a statement saying that E-Land was just the beginning, naming food corporation SPC and the three-largest convenience store chains 7-Eleven, CU, and GS25 as other companies that they said were infamous among part-time workers for their labor violations.
SPC operates Paris Baguette, Paris Croissant, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins in Korea.
By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)
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