[Opinion] Construction Union 'Conflict Provoking'..."At This Rate, Everyone Will Die~"

I recently had a phone conversation with a graduate who is an executive at a certain mid-sized construction company. He complained that he is having a very hard time reporting daily to the management because more than 10% operating losses are occurring at almost all the sites he is in charge of. He said that even large construction companies have already entered emergency management mode due to expected deficits in the trillions of won. It is quite disappointing news for me, who was encouraged by the fairly high employment rate last year, as serious restructuring is expected in companies this year.

Due to the global inflation caused by the Ukraine war, construction companies are in an emergency situation regarding cost management. Each company is experiencing a surge in construction material costs such as rebar and ready-mixed concrete, sometimes more than tripling, resulting in numerous loss-making sites. On the other hand, the intensified wage increase demands and the unreasonable behavior of construction unions in taking care of union members are pushing the pressure felt at the sites beyond the limit. Moreover, with the strengthening of multiple safety measures at sites, including the Serious Accident Punishment Act, the workload of managers has doubled, and the phenomenon of new personnel leaving construction sites has also become full-fledged.

The construction industry seems to be facing a dilemma. Considering the direct and indirect impact on the national economy, it looks like "everyone will really perish" if this continues. Construction labor not only affects construction costs but also has a huge impact on the quality and safety of buildings. However, conflicts caused by construction unions at construction sites are so severe that they are uncontrollable. Due to the nature of construction projects, they are inevitably subject to time and location constraints. Knowing this very well, construction unions do not hesitate to throw tantrums that disrupt normal work or use site weaknesses as an excuse to intimidate. Site managers need competitive and excellent workers, while workers naturally want stable jobs through appropriate compensation and rewards. Ultimately, based on competition, some workers receive high wages, while others remain in less favorable environments.

The role of unions should be to protect the rights of these vulnerable workers while also striving to ensure that diligent workers are properly treated. However, social views on unions are not favorable due to actions such as disrupting workplace operations under the pretext of protecting union members' rights, encouraging competition among union members to shirk work, and pursuing private interests due to moral hazard within the union leadership. Since the formation of a win-win partnership between labor and management has been neglected, it seems that employers have long given up on expecting excellent labor from union members. As a result, sites filled with union members show much lower productivity than those centered on non-union workers.

Statistics support that labor productivity in the domestic construction industry has been declining for years. Last year, while labor productivity in all industries increased by 3.5% compared to the previous year, labor productivity in the construction sector decreased by 7.2%. Labor productivity, which was similar across industries in 2016, has seen a widening gap in the construction sector, and this gap is expanding every year. In Illinois, USA, where the union ratio in construction is the highest, union members’ productivity is about 16.7% higher than that of non-union workers. This is possible because unions have created a competitive structure through positive roles. How about the domestic situation? It is said that union members’ productivity is less than half that of non-union workers. In other words, sites filled with union members incur more than twice the cost compared to those without. Without competition, there is no progress.

I recall something a taxi driver said during a business trip to Las Vegas last week. When asked, “Don’t taxi driver unions in the U.S. oppose Uber?” the driver replied, “I think taxi drivers and Uber drivers are in competition.” Because of this competition, passenger service has improved, drivers’ income has actually increased, and time management has become possible, making life more relaxed than before. We need to move away from the mindset that “workers are weak and good, and employers are strong and evil.” There is no separate labor and management in creating a healthy industrial ecosystem. I hope for a change in construction culture where a structure of mutual growth is formed so that union members are trusted and employed because they are union members, rather than avoided. The construction companies’ complaints that “bad drives out good” at construction sites have now become commonplace. Signals that an economic crisis is approaching are heard here and there. Everyone must join forces to endure this crisis. I hope someone will appear soon to shout, “We’re all going to die if this continues!”

Cha Hee-seong, Professor, Department of Architecture, Ajou University

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