Kia Motors Union Buys Group T-Shirts Worth 460 Million KRW
Members Protest Over Cheap Material and Demand Price Justification
Price Inflated by 140 Million KRW... Executive Arrested
The cheap-quality union group T-shirts sparked strong backlash among the union members, and it was later found that a union executive colluded with the bidding company to inflate the prices.
On the 2nd, the police announced that they had arrested Kia Motors union executive Mr. A on charges of breach of trust, embezzlement, and bid-rigging. Mr. A and others in the union are suspected of pocketing billions of won in rebates during the purchase of union group T-shirts last September.
The Kia Motors union purchased 28,200 short-sleeve group T-shirts for union members last September using a strike fund of 460 million won. In this process, they inflated the price of T-shirts, which had a unit cost of about 10,300 won, to 15,400 won per piece.
Although the supplier was selected through an open bidding process, both companies that participated in the bid had prior collusion with Mr. A. To avoid suspicion, the company that submitted the relatively lower price among the two was selected. The difference pocketed in this way amounted to about 143 million won.
This case came to light in January this year when some union members filed a complaint with the National Petition Board, citing the low quality of the T-shirts. At the time, union members suspected the price because the T-shirts were made of relatively cheap materials, consisting of 86% nylon and 14% polyurethane synthetic fibers.
Additionally, the T-shirt labels bore the name of a certain furniture company rather than a clothing manufacturer, raising suspicions of counterfeit products. When backlash arose among union members at the Gwangmyeong Sohari plant, which received the T-shirts first, it was reported that the labels were cut off with scissors before distribution at the Gwangju plant.
One union member claimed, “When I took the T-shirts to a Dongdaemun merchant and requested a quote for producing 30,000 pieces with the same fabric and design, the highest price quoted was 8,450 won,” and “When I checked prices on Coupang for fabrics from the two companies, they were being sold for 5,900 won and 8,700 won respectively.”
Other union members strongly protested, calling the T-shirts “rag-like trash,” demanding “a reasonable explanation for the T-shirt prices,” and questioning whether the labels were cut to conceal the manufacturer and production year. Some even tore the T-shirts or pressured the union leadership with phrases like “Is this really worth 16,000 won?” In response, the union explained that “there was some error during the manufacturing process by the partner company.”
The police have also booked 11 people, including those related to the supplier, on charges such as bid-rigging and violations of the Real Name Financial Transaction Act, and are investigating them. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the prosecution.
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