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| A truck hired by Starbucks Korea workers displays a sign calling for improvements in their working conditions on a road near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul, Oct. 7. The workers carried out the collective action without a union, and they refused an umbrella union's offer of help. Yonhap |
Digital platforms become young workers' methods for labor struggle
By Lee Hae-rin
Employees at Starbucks Korea staged a group action to protest their excessive workload in late September, and last week they were promised additional staffing and wage increases. What was unusual about the protest was that the company has never had a union, yet the protest was quick, systematic and successful.
The employees, mostly in their 20s and 30s, managed to publicize their labor issues in less than a week via the anonymous company review platform Blind, and raised 3 million won ($2,552) in funds via mobile banking service Toss within three hours. Then, they contacted an event-planning agency after seeking legal advice to organize a series of protests using trucks with signboards.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the nation's two umbrella unions, offered to help them and invited them to join the union, however, the employees refused without hesitation.
"Starbucks Korea, without a union, has led the food and beverage industry and made its partners devoted and proud for the past 22 years. Do not take advantage of our collective action for the unions' interest," a Starbucks employee wrote on Blind.
Similar action took place on Blind in July among young workers at E-mart concerning their bonus system. In response, the company promised to raise their bonus by 30 percent along with a special incentive that is about 50 percent of their basic pay.
The company has three different unions, two of which are affiliated with the KCTU and the other, with the Federation of Korea Trade Unions, another umbrella union. However, the action by workers not belonging to any of the unions was quicker and more effective than those belonging to the three unions, leading to the company's response.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012), together known as the "MZ Generation," are leading a new labor movement here. Unlike their parents' generations, they no longer depend on the traditional system of joining unions to communicate with bosses and improve their working conditions.
Instead, the young workers make public their labor issues online via social media and digital platforms and take issues-based guerilla action in which they gather and scatter, without holding a permanent affiliation to any particular group.
"The MZ Generation is very independent, practical and goal-oriented. They prefer to take collective action to solve a specific problem, rather than joining a union for protection. Once the problem is solved, the group dissolves," Lim Myoung-ho, a professor of psychology at Dankook University, told The Korea Times.
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Young workers' refusal to join unions has also partially come from negative impressions of the current struggles led by umbrella unions.
The office of Rep. Kwon Young-se of the main opposition People Power Party conducted a survey of 3,000 people on Blind from Sept. 14 to 15, in which 74 percent of the respondents were the MZ Generation. In the survey, only 22.8 percent of the surveyed people said they had a positive impression of unions, while 54.4 percent viewed them negatively.
As to the biggest problem of the nation's unions, 43.3 percent said the unions were "focusing more on political and other social issues than labor issues," 19.7 percent cited "hardline struggles that worsen conflicts between company and workers," and 9.1 percent said unions "pressure workers to join them and discriminate against non-members."
Experts explain that younger people's resistance to the existing union culture, coupled with digital literacy, has led to alternative forms of group action.
"Young employees, unlike the older ones, don't believe they need to change society through labor struggles, and they recognize existing unions only focus on militant tactics," Kim Dong-one, a professor of business administration at Korea University, told The Korea Times.
Lee Byoung-hoon, a professor of sociology at Chung-Ang University, also said, "Young people feel they are not represented via existing unions, and they are used to communicating via social media and digital platforms. As a result, we're seeing this new social phenomenon, where young people pressure companies via online and mobile platforms, independent from traditional unions."
The experts say that both companies and unions should embrace the characteristics of the new generations to build a healthy and sustainable working environment.
"Traditional labor movement culture, where workers can be represented only by joining a union, will have to change fundamentally. Unions must adapt to changes in order to appeal to young members," Lim said.
Companies also need to build a detailed labor management system and communicate with young workers in ways different from their parents' generations, experts say. "The MZ Generation engages in collective actions only when there is a problem and they change jobs frequently. So it is more difficult for companies to communicate with young workers compared to older union members, and companies could easily lose talented young employees without labor management measures tailored for them," Kim said.
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