Demanding Equal Treatment as Overseas
The labor union of IKEA Korea, the South Korean unit of Swedish furniture maker IKEA, went on a strike on Nov. 3, demanding the same treatment of employees at Korean and overseas subsidiaries.
"IKEA has earned a good corporate image in Korea through advertisements, but workers at Ikea Korea have been discriminated against," said the company’s labor union at a press conference in front of the IKEA Gwangmyeong branch. "The core demand of the labor union is to treat Korean workers as IKEA does in other countries."
The company’s labor union, which is affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), released data comparing the wage systems of other IKEA units with that of IKEA Korea. According to the data, employees at IKEA operations in other countries earn an average of US$15 an hour, but employees at IKEA Korea receive the minimum wage. In addition, overseas IKEA units pay 150 percent of salaries as weekend allowances and 120 percent as special allowances for evening hours, but Idea Korea does not pay them.
In addition, manager-employee wage allocation ratios are 2:8 at oversea IKEA units but 4:6 at IKEA Korea. The wage supplement policy being implemented in overseas IKEA units to protect employees who work for short hours is not implemented at IKEA Korea. Under the policy, beneficiaries receive 25 percent of their wages additionally.
"The type of work at IKEA Korea follows global standards, while wages and benefits for its employees are at the lowest level in the industry," the labor union asserted, criticizing the management of ILEA Korea. "IKEA Korea is forcing employees to make sacrifices.”
The union also said, “We have been negotiating on a collective bargaining agreement for more than seven months since the establishment of the labor union. But the management has only repeated that it is difficult to address the problems due to IKEA’s global standards."
Earlier, workers at IKEA Korea set up a labor union in February and negotiated with the management from April to October. The labor union declared a breakdown of negotiations on Sept. 22 and held a strike vote from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Ninety-three percent of the union members participated in the vote and 96 percent said yes.