E-mart workers urge gov't to end twice-monthly store closures

A worker arranges mushroom products on a shelf at an E-mart store in Seoul, Nov. 9, 2020. Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

E-mart workers are urging the government to ease rules on retail store chains by scrapping a regulation forcing them to close twice a month, calling it discrimination against large retailers and their workers in the name of protecting small businesses, the company's union said Thursday. The union also called for abolishing rules preventing the retailers from opening new stores within a kilometer of existing ones.

“The restrictions on major retailers did not result in reviving traditional markets or small stores in alleys. In fact, other firms not subject to the regulation are taking advantage of it and customers are being inconvenienced,” E-mart's union said in a statement released on Wednesday. “The government and politicians have to start a dialogue with the public and make a system where both workers at supermarkets and business owners in traditional markets can make a living together.”

The Distribution Industry Development Act was established in 1997 and revised twice in 2010 and 2012, placing major retailers like E-mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus under extra rules, such as staying closed on two Sundays each month.

In addition, restricting the number of supermarkets in the country not only halted the retailers' prospering business but also resulted in the closure of 12 of their branches during the pandemic.

Emerging e-commerce firms also took away many offline store customers. Each major supermarket employs at least 500 workers and they are worried they can lose their jobs if the stores go out of business.

“We have the right to live and it is threatened by COVID-19, retailers' transition to online shopping and the government's regulation on supermarkets. Don't forget, we are also people of this nation,” the union said.

E-mart's union further pointed out that the Distribution Industry Development Act does not help traditional markets to grow. In 2021, sales at traditional markets in Seoul declined by 80 percent, year-on-year, a federation of merchants in Seoul said.

The Korea Distribution Association also conducted a survey on supermarket customers in 2019, and only 5.8 percent of the respondents said they use traditional markets on Sundays when E-mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus are closed.

The National Assembly is preparing to introduce a stronger regulation to prevent the big stores from opening a new branch within a radius of 20 kilometers of their existing stores. Multiple shopping complexes can also be subjected to the regulation according to the proposed bill.

“The government must seek mutual growth between retailers and traditional markets. The current law is only discouraging major supermarkets' business and it needs to be revised,” an E-mart official said.