KFSU-Homeplus Unions fight for over 20,000 jobs as Korea’s major retailer enters court-led restructuring

The Korean Federation of Service Workers’ Unions (KFSU), an affiliate of UNI Global Union, is calling for international solidarity as over 20,000 jobs at Homeplus, Korea’s second-largest retailer, are placed at risk following the company’s recent application for corporate rehabilitation under South Korea’s Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act.

This court-led process, intended to allow financially distressed but potentially viable companies to restructure their debts and operations, has raised serious alarm among workers. The unions have warned that—based on past experience—such proceedings often precede mass layoffs, store closures and aggressive asset disposals.

The unions attribute the current crisis to MBK Partners, the private equity firm that acquired Homeplus in 2015 through a highly leveraged buyout.

As the lead investor in a consortium that took over the company from British multinational Tesco, MBK structured the acquisition so that most of the financing was borrowed in Homeplus’s name.

Key backers of the consortium include major institutional investors such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and PSP Investments.

At the time of the acquisition, Homeplus operated around 140 outlets and employed 25,000 workers. Today, it runs 126 retail locations with a workforce of just over 20,000. The union argues that this decline is the result of MBK’s extractive financial strategy, which involved selling off profitable stores and real estate assets to repay acquisition-related debts, thereby undermining the company’s long-term viability.

The unions estimated that as many as 100,000 people in total—including Homeplus’s 20,000 direct employees along with subcontracted staff, suppliers, and tenant business owners—could be affected by the wider effects of the restructuring.

A May Day rally will be held in defence of Homeplus workers. The KFSU-Homeplus Union is appealing to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the AFL-CIO for public expressions of solidarity and international pressure on MBK and its financial backers.

The unions are calling for a sustainable recovery plan that protects all jobs without store closures and stronger regulations on private equity investments to prevent similar situations in the future.

UNI Asia & Pacific Regional Secretary Rajendra Acharya said, “We are in solidarity with the Homeplus union and all its members. Their struggle has really highlighted the negative consequences of debt-driven financing. When the priorities of greed and profit take precedence over decent work and long-term sustainability, it is workers, families and entire communities that pay the price. We stand with them in their fight for fairness and justice.”