After worker killed at factory, SPC Group faces boycott

Industry

Published: 20 Oct. 2022, 18:01

After worker killed at factory, SPC Group faces boycott

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions hold a banner saying they will boycott SPC Group products on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Civic groups have launched a boycott of SPC Group, operator of the country's top bakery brand, Paris Baguette, following an industrial accident at a bread factory affiliated with the group that killed a worker.

"Boycotting SPC could be hard because the company has so many brands," wrote one Twitter user in a message that was retweeted over 15,000 times, "but I think we can succeed if we just start by boycotting Paris Baguette."

Civic group Raise Up 1114 asked people to help the boycott by posting images of food and bakery franchises affiliated with SPC Group on its website and social media channels on Wednesday, getting over 20,000 retweets as of Thursday.

The list includes Paris Baguette, Baskin Robbins and Dunkin'.

Paris Croissant — the parent of SPL that is wholly owned by SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in and his family — runs Paris Baguette. BR Korea, 66.67 percent owned by Chairman Hur and his family, runs Baskin Robbins and Dunkin' in Korea.

Anger has been spreading online since the death of a 23-year-old employee at SPL's bread making factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, who died Oct. 15 after getting caught in an industrial mixer.

The company's image has been hurt by allegations that the factory put a screen around the industrial mixer that killed the worker, and other employees had to keep on working. The SPL branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the more radical of Korea's two labor groups, went on Twitter to upload a photo of an industrial mixer draped with a white screen and employees working in the background on Oct. 16, writing that "the factory that the accident happened was busy today making sandwiches."

President Yoon Suk-yeol addressed the issue Thursday.

"People from the Ministry of Employment and Labor immediately went to the site for an investigation, and they stopped all machines without safety locks," Yoon told reporters on his way into work on Thursday. "They did see some machines without safety locks running and stopped them, and I think that is why some people have been told that the machines were being operated."

"It was a very tragic accident," Yoon continued, "and I have ordered people to look into the issue."

YouTuber ITSub, who has 2.24 million subscribers, indirectly mentioned the boycott.

YouTuber ITSub looks at a list of brands affiliated with SPC Group. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

In a video reviewing Apple's new 10th generation iPads Tuesday, the YouTuber displayed an image of a list consisting of all franchises affiliated with SPC Group. Although ITSub didn't directly recommend a boycott of the brands, the video shows him looking at the list and saying that he can "see them all clearly at one glance."

A committee of Paris Baguette franchise owners expressed concern about the boycott, saying it will only hurt the small businesspersons running franchises.

"Using violent language and encouraging boycotts without considering the damage innocent franchisees and their families will feel is no different than companies that neglect workers' rights," read a statement uploaded Wednesday.

Shares of SPC Samlip, the only listed company under Paris Croissant, fell 2.3 percent to 72,300 won ($50) on Thursday. Before the accident, SPC Samlip shares traded at 78,800 won per share on Oct. 14. The company lost market capitalization of 56 billion won.

Boycotts are felt hard by food and retailers, with Namyang Dairy Products one example.

In 2013, many people boycotted Namyang Dairy Products after one of its employees forced a wholesaler to buy more products than he could afford by verbally abusing him. The company's revenue in 2013 dropped 9.9 percent on year to 1.23 trillion won.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]