CJ Logistics Strike Enters Second Week... Small Business Owners Consider 'Legal Action'

Damage from Delivery Delays and Failed Shipments

Officials from the National Courier Workers' Union held a final hunger strike declaration and a 4th general strike resolution rally on the 6th in front of the CJ Group headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, demanding fair distribution of the increased courier fees and recognition of the union. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

As the CJ Logistics delivery workers' union strike enters its second week, some regional member companies of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations are considering legal action. This is due to the increasing damage suffered by local small business owners caused by the prolonged strike.

According to industry sources on the 10th, some regional branches of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations, including Incheon, plan to collect damage complaints related to the CJ Logistics delivery workers' union strike and submit them to the central office. With the increase in delivery volumes due to the rise in non-face-to-face consumption amid COVID-19, the delays and delivery failures experienced by local small business owners are worsening.

According to data obtained by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations from its member organization, the CJ Logistics Delivery Agency Association, small business owners in regions such as Yeongdeungpo in Seoul, Icheon, Gimpo, and Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province, Gunsan in Jeonbuk, Daegu, and Ulsan are reportedly making every effort to minimize damage by creating and sharing a 'CJ Logistics Non-Delivery Area' list. According to this list, a total of 621 locations nationwide, including towns and townships, are marked as non-delivery areas.

In particular, local merchants who mainly sell agricultural and marine products and food online have suffered significant damage. Mr. A, a business operator running a flower farm in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, said, "Since the 27th of last month, we have been notifying customers about delivery delays to minimize damage, but orders from some non-delivery areas are being canceled, increasing the losses."

Some CJ Logistics agencies have informed contracted businesses that deliveries may be delayed by up to a week, and although the headquarters is supporting with directly employed delivery drivers, normal operations remain difficult.

Accordingly, on the 5th, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations strongly demanded the withdrawal of the CJ Logistics delivery workers' union strike, stating that "the delivery disruptions are threatening the livelihoods of small business owners."

The Federation criticized the union's actions, citing statistics from the Central Labor Relations Commission showing that out of 578 strike reports filed last year, 330 (57%) were from delivery workers' unions, indicating that their slowdowns have been ongoing throughout the year. They emphasized that after social agreements led to improvements in working conditions and treatment of delivery workers to prevent overwork deaths, demands for profit sharing are unjustified strikes.

The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations stated that it will carefully monitor whether the prolonged CJ Logistics delivery workers' union strike spreads damage to other major domestic delivery companies and will seek future response measures. A Federation official said, "If the impact of the CJ Logistics delivery workers' union strike causes other delivery companies to suspend pickups and further increases losses for small business owners, we will have no choice but to consider legal action."

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