Coupang workers demand protection against the heat

On Tuesday, workers at Coupang’s distribution centers went on a day strike to demand multiple improvements, such as offering break time according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor guidelines and using the Korea Meteorological Administration ...

Coupang's distribution center [COUPANG]

When a JoongAng Ilbo reporter recently visited Coupang’s distribution center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi to work there for a day, she found no windows or air conditioners in the working zones.

On Tuesday, workers at Coupang’s distribution centers went on a day strike to demand multiple improvements, such as offering break time according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor guidelines and using the Korea Meteorological Administration’s official calculator to check apparent temperatures.

On the day the reporter visited, the distribution center was filled with nothing but hot air.

The region’s temperature reached as high as 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) as heat wave warnings were issued across the country.

Indoor temperatures were no different, ranging from 34.1 to 34.6 degrees Celsius due to the hot weather and the steaming air coming out of machines.

The only areas in the four-story building with air conditioners were one packing zone, some break rooms and bathrooms.

The rest were only equipped with fans that kept circulating the warm air.

This reporter signed up for a day's work at the center in Dongtan to sort packages and bring them to delivery trucks.

Those who worked for the first time at the distribution center, including the reporter herself, began work at 10:30 a.m. after attending a two-hour orientation session.

The other seven workers who came to the center started sweating as soon as they stood below the conveyor belts. Their bodies were entirely wet with sweat only five minutes into work.

Large fans and 3-meter-wide (9.8-foot) ceiling fans were installed in places, but these had little effect on most of the facility.

The reporter could only feel the warm wind even when standing in front of the fan.

The machines allowed insufficient time for workers to take a rest. The tension and stress further elevated the workers' body heat.

Workers who sort packages put packages dropped from conveyor belts into plastic boxes to send them off to different regions.

When four to five packages pile up, an orange warning light turns on, along with a siren. If this repeats, a supervisor comes and tells the worker to speed up.

At around 11:20 a.m., workers were given a 50-minute lunch break.

Thousands of workers headed to a cafeteria in the basement. As soon as they finished eating, they went to the first floor where they could use their phones

Workers at Coupang's distribution center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, take a rest on the first floor during their lunch break. [JANG SEO-YUN]

The first floor is one of the few areas with air conditioning. Workers sat down and ate ice cream they grabbed from a refrigerator at the center for free.

After this sweet-but-all-too-short break, the conveyor belts began rolling again.

Workers said the two to three hours after the lunch break was the hottest period they need to endure.

The next break time was from 2 p.m. to 2:20 p.m., but workers were given an additional 10-minute break due to the extreme heat that day.

Air conditioning facility installed in Coupang's distribution center this summer [COUPANG]

The only working area equipped with air conditioners was an area for packing located on the 1.5th floor. Every workbench in that particular area had a 15-centimeter-wide (0.5-inch) air conditioner on the ceiling.

All workers want to work there due to the cooler temperatures.

“It was endurable until three days ago, but I couldn't really work today because of the hot weather,” said a 43-year-old worker who also works on the 1.5th floor but in an un-airconditioned zone.

But even workers in the packing area that had air conditioning said they, too, are suffering from steaming temperatures.

“Only the top of my head is cool, and I start sweating when I walk a step away from the air conditioner,” a 41-year-old worker said.

“I got eczema and athlete’s foot [from sweat].”

The company offers iced water, glucose tablets and ice cream to workers to help them fight against the scorching indoor temperature.

But this is not enough, workers said.

“I feel like I am about to faint when I am in a bad condition,” a 48-year-old worker said.

Some workers even poured iced water on each other to fight the heat.

Coupang explained that installing air conditioners will not be as effective as people expect due to the large, open area of the distribution center.

The Dongtan distribution center, one of Coupang's five distribution centers, is about 27,000 square meters large.

Coupang’s labor union asked the company to ensure they have sufficient break time if the company cannot install air conditioners.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor's guidelines recommend that companies give 10 minutes of rest time every hour when apparent temperatures exceed 33 degrees Celsius and 15 minutes above 35 degrees Celsius.

However, Coupang said such guidelines are only recommendations and that they offer additional rest time on top of legally mandated breaks.

The e-commerce operator also explained that they are making “consistent investments and taking actions to prevent workers suffering from heat stroke” such as by operating cooling and ventilation systems and offering goods to beat the heat.

The labor union, however, pointed out that most of the workers are having chronic heat exhaustion symptoms, including dizziness, and that there is no time to take a rest even if the company offers a place to do so.

Just a few weeks ago on July 19, a cart pusher at Costco Korea’s Hanam branch in Gyeonggi died from excessive dehydration from the heat.

Such accidents occur every summer, but workers say companies are not properly executing the government’s guidelines.

“Because companies prioritize stocking products as soon as possible, even the least amount of legally mandated break times are not given [to workers] in extremely hot weather,” said Lee Byoung-hoon, a sociology professor at Chung-Ang University.

“The Ministry of Employment and Labor needs to crack down on such cases to make them follow the guidelines.”

BY JANG SEO-YUN, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]