Homeplus is considering closing currently suspended stores and halting operations at additional locations, the company's labor union claimed, raising concerns that store restructuring could worsen job insecurity as the corporate rehabilitation process nears its final stage.
According to the Homeplus branch of the Mart Industry Labor Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) on Tuesday, Homeplus's major shareholder MBK Partners included plans to close 37 suspended stores and review additional suspensions at more than 10 stores in a revised rehabilitation plan presented to creditors on Sept. 29.
The union argued that an expansion of store restructuring during the rehabilitation process could accelerate the departure of frontline workers. The union said about 3,000 employees left the company between January and April this year, and the number of directly employed workers, which once stood at around 20,000, has now fallen to about 15,000.
Some employees are receiving suspension allowances due to halted operations at suspended stores, according to the union. The union believes that prolonged suspensions are heightening job insecurity among workers and driving continued departures from the workforce.
"If additional restructuring is pushed through as the corporate rehabilitation process enters its final stage, it could effectively lead to liquidation," Choi Cheol-han, secretary-general of the Homeplus branch, said at a press conference held in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, on the same day.
The union called on the government and the ruling party to come up with measures to normalize Homeplus and ensure employment stability. The union said it would continue its indefinite hunger strike currently underway in Gwanghwamun, and that Son Sang-hee, senior vice branch chair, and Choi Cheol-han, secretary-general, will join the hunger strike starting Oct. 4. Yang Kyeong-soo, chair of the KCTU, will also begin a sympathy hunger strike on the same day.
