'MZ' Shinsegae Union Chairperson "1000 Members Joined This Year... Focus on Dialogue"

Interview with Kim Young-hoon, Union Chairman
Shinsegae's First Union in Over 60 Years Since Founding
Currently 200 Members, Led by the MZ Generation
Aiming to Launch a Unified Shinsegae Group Union

"This year, we are aiming to surpass 1,000 labor union members."

On the 20th, at Starfield in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Kim Young-hoon, chairman of the Shinsegae labor union, said, "There are about 3,000 department store employees in total, and currently around 200 have joined. This is the result after sending the union membership guidance email three times. Most members are at the assistant manager and manager level."

Kim Young-hoon, Chairman of the Shinsegae Labor Union.
Photo by Shinsegae Labor Union.

Chairman Kim was born in 1988 and belongs to the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z). He joined Shinsegae Department Store in 2011 and is now a 12-year partner-level employee. He has worked in the corporate business division, the boutique store Boon the Shop Cheongdam branch, and the Shinsegae Department Store main branch, and is currently working in the factory store business division.

Shinsegae established its first labor union in over 60 years since its founding. Chairman Kim explained, "In mid-December last year, the management reversed the decision on the New Year's Day holiday. Originally, the store had been closed annually, but two weeks prior, they unilaterally notified us. At that time, there was strong opposition from partner-level employees, and public opinion formed that we needed to create a union." He continued, "After declaring the intention to form a union through Blind, we set the schedule. From January this year, we gathered the executive team and filed the establishment report on the 13th of last month. Creating something from nothing was never an easy process."

The Shinsegae union plans to expand activities beyond online to offline. Chairman Kim said, "On the 17th of last month, we sent a union membership guidance email to all employees, and many inquiry calls and supportive messages started coming in. We plan to continue activities by touring stores, and once the union grows larger, we intend to operate a delegate system by store."

The Shinsegae union emphasizes fairness and dialogue. Chairman Kim introduced, "In fact, our goals align with those of the Saerogochim Labor Council and MZ generation unions. While traditional unions focused on confrontation, we aim to build a negotiating union." The ultimate goal is the launch of an integrated Shinsegae Group union. Chairman Kim expressed, "We are considering unifying all unions, including department stores, Starbucks, and duty-free shops, into one."

The Shinsegae union has put forward demands including ▲ending one-sided wage negotiations ▲improving opaque performance bonus payments ▲reforming to a fair and transparent personnel system ▲wage increases in line with inflation rates ▲staff reinforcement and provision of work mobile phones ▲strengthening welfare benefits such as tuition and medical expense support.

Chairman Kim emphasized to executives including President Chung Yoo-kyung and CEO Son Young-sik, "Since the management has declared that they will establish a healthy labor-management culture through smooth dialogue and consultation, I hope we can cooperate well going forward."