"Store Damage Snowballs"... Paris Baguette Franchise Owners Appeal Amid Cargo Solidarity Strike

"Over 3,400 Stores Nationwide Are Trembling in Fear"

Citizens are passing in front of a Paris Baguette store in downtown Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Due to the strike by members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' Cargo Solidarity at SPC Group's Honam Shani Gwangju factory, an emergency has arisen in the bread supply to over 3,400 Paris Baguette franchise stores nationwide. Among them, a Paris Baguette franchise owner expressed severe damage and pleaded, "Please help so that the situation can be resolved quickly."

On the 15th, a petition titled "Please save the self-employed who are dying due to the illegal strike of the Cargo Solidarity" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board. As of 8:15 a.m. on the 16th, this petition had received over 4,170 endorsements.

The petitioner, who introduced themselves as a self-employed operator of Paris Baguette in Gwangju, lamented, "Recently, delivery drivers belonging to the Cargo Solidarity in the Gwangju area have been carrying out an illegal strike for more than 10 days. Ingredients that should arrive early in the morning are arriving late in the afternoon, resulting in unsellable and discarded products, causing the store's damage to grow like a snowball."

Photo by Cheongwadae National Petition Board screen capture.

They continued, "Although the cause of the strike is unclear, the Cargo Solidarity is demanding exemption from liability for damages as a condition to end the strike. When the headquarters did not accept this, they are trying to expand the solidarity strike to other logistics centers unrelated to this issue, causing anxiety among over 3,400 franchise stores nationwide," they pointed out.

They criticized, "In a situation where the business environment has already reached its worst due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the union is forcing the strike to take advantage of powerless self-employed people as hostages in conflicts between unions to pursue their own interests. The damage caused by this is entirely borne by the store owners."

Furthermore, they said, "Despite the illegal strike by the Cargo Solidarity, franchise stores are trying to continue business activities by securing substitute vehicles from early morning or directly visiting logistics centers to transport products, but this is also not easy due to physical obstruction by the Cargo Solidarity."

Finally, the petitioner pleaded, "The scale of financial damage and business losses caused by the delivery suspension is growing to an unmeasurable level, so on behalf of franchise owners nationwide, I earnestly ask for the current situation to be resolved as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, the Cargo Solidarity Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' Public Transport Workers' Union began a full transportation refusal strike at SPC workplaces nationwide starting on the 15th. This has put the bread supply to over 3,400 Paris Baguette franchise stores nationwide on emergency alert.

The Cargo Solidarity issued a statement claiming, "In January, cargo workers at the Honam Shani Gwangju factory, who were suffering from excessive workloads, requested additional vehicles, but the management maintained an unacceptable stance and forced poor working conditions on the cargo workers."

It is reported that about 200 delivery vehicles participating in the strike, which is about 30% of the total vehicles, operate between logistics warehouses in Gwangju, Wonju, Daegu, and Seongnam. These vehicles are responsible for transporting raw dough and bread products from SPC Group's logistics warehouses to Paris Baguette franchise stores nationwide.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.