E-commerce large Coupang is dealing with accusations that its success is constructed on the exploitation of employees.
Hwaseong, South Korea – When Jeong Dong-heon returns house from work at a Coupang logistics centre, he usually finds crusty white patterns on the again and sides of his shirt.
The flower-like shapes are created by accrued salt deposits – a results of the sweat that pours off his physique as he works at an enormous warehouse run by considered one of South Korea’s largest firms.
Jeong works from 8am to 5pm, finishing up bodily duties that embody lifting and carrying heavy bins. This summer time, South Korea has skilled record-setting temperatures and the warmth has develop into so dizzying that Jeong usually worries about collapsing.
“Working within the warehouse appears like being inside a boiling pot,” Jeong, 29, advised Al Jazeera.
Jeong is amongst a personnel organising for air-con to be thought-about not a luxurious, however a primary necessity for them to do their jobs safely. He and his colleagues are searching for to remind the corporate, and prospects, of the human sweat on the root of handy, fast deliveries.
With warmth waves now a routine incidence in July and August, employees need Coupang to decide to binding options. Their calls for: satisfactory air-con in all workspaces and a assured 20 minutes of relaxation time for each two hours of labor.
Coupang rose to develop into South Korea’s main e-commerce agency with its speedy, cheap supply of a near-infinite array of products, from contemporary fruit to garden mowers and foot massagers.
Like its US rival Amazon, Coupang has confronted allegations that its high-tech dominance is constructed on the exploitation of employees. At the very least two deaths have been reported on the centre the place Jeong works, and labour teams declare that strenuous office situations had been elements. Final yr, a authorities physique linked the loss of life of a 27-year-old man at one other Coupang centre to his lengthy hours engaged on the warehouse ground.
In all seasons, work at Coupang is bodily taxing. An impartial 2021 research discovered that 73 % of employees reported their work to be extra intense than quick strolling. Half of the employees surveyed mentioned that they “all the time” felt exhausted after their shift, with almost 30 % saying they “usually” felt exhausted.
With greater than 60,000 employees, Coupang is South Korea’s third-largest employer, behind Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Firm. When the corporate debuted on the New York Inventory Change final yr, it introduced plans to rent 50,000 extra workers within the nation by 2025.
Yoon Soo-hyun, a 43-year-old employee at a Coupang centre in Goyang, a satellite tv for pc metropolis north of Seoul, mentioned casual norms on the warehouse ground discourage employees from taking breaks.
“The corporate places out a number of chairs and tells us that if we’re drained, we are able to sit for some time,” Yoon advised Al Jazeera. “However everybody feels nervous as a result of there are all the time supervisors watching us, seeing who's on break and for the way lengthy.”
He added, “We don’t wish to lose our jobs, so we simply do what we’re advised.”
Coupang says it meets authorities requirements.
“We meet and/or exceed all health-related authorities rules for the indoor and out of doors working areas of our fulfilment facilities,” the corporate advised Al Jazeera in a press release.
“If a employee has any well being situation for any purpose whereas working at considered one of our amenities, they're permitted to cease working.”
Although Coupang employees have organised so as to get air-con, some specialists say that enormous areas like warehouses current distinctive challenges that make it tough to maintain them cool.
Jung Jin-woo, a professor at Seoul Nationwide College of Science and Expertise who research occupational security and well being administration, mentioned anticipating air-con within the warehouses is “unrealistic”.
“The centres have very excessive ceilings, they’re open 24 hours a day, and the area is greater than 15 occasions bigger than a soccer area,” Jung advised Al Jazeera.
In the meantime, Coupang advised Al Jazeera it has put in 20,000 cooling models, together with air conditioners and followers, in its logistics centres and gives air-conditioned break rooms on each ground. However employees say this doesn’t go far sufficient and the warehouses are nonetheless oppressively sizzling.
Whereas Coupang has constructed up an enormous buyer base in recent times, the agency’s efforts to remain forward within the fiercely aggressive e-commerce sector, together with main investments in automation, have resulted in steep losses.
The corporate recorded internet losses of $405m within the final quarter of 2021 and one other $209m in losses in the course of the first quarter of this yr. Since debuting on the New York Inventory Change final yr, Coupang has confronted rising stress from traders to show a revenue, analysts say.
The corporate’s near-term prospects are additionally sophisticated by the widely weak financial outlook in South Korea, a rustic at present beset by sluggish development and excessive inflation.
“Individuals have much less to spend, so there'll most likely be a slowing of Coupang’s income development,” Shin Se-don, a professor of economics at Sookmyung Girls’s College in Seoul, advised Al Jazeera.
Regardless of the challenges employees face, Coupang nonetheless provides jobs which might be engaging to many South Koreans, particularly these with out the tutorial credentials historically required for white-collar positions.
Coupang mentioned employees in its fulfilment centres can earn as much as 3.42 million received ($2,652) per 30 days, a aggressive quantity in a rustic with a minimal wage of 9,160 received ($7.03) per hour. The corporate additionally doesn't require particular schooling or expertise credentials when hiring.
Jeong, who's wiry and energetic, has labored at Coupang since April of final yr and says he's dedicated to remaining there for the foreseeable future. He's motivated not solely by his personal must make a residing, however a want to enhance the lot of a rising variety of employees in an organization that's quick turning into considered one of his nation’s most recognisable company manufacturers.
Final month, Jeong and different Coupang employees wheeled an air conditioner and marched 50km (32 miles) from the corporate’s headquarters in southeastern Seoul to the warehouse the place he works.
On the finish of the march, Jeong caught his breath within the shadow of the hulking constructing the place he spends his days. He described the battle for air-con as a step in direction of longer-term targets, like increased wages and extra say in firm affairs.
“This shall be a protracted wrestle,” he mentioned.
Post a Comment