On October 15, factory workers for Paris Baguette stumbled upon the gruesome scene of their colleague’s mangled corpse. The deceased 23-year-old female worker was reported to have been operating a sauce mixer machine during her graveyard shift when her upper body got caught in the machine, leading to her untimely demise. While the SPC Group, the parent company of Paris Baguette, asserts that her death was an unfortunate accident, the victim’s mother and various labor unions claim that her death would not have been possible if only the SPC Group followed proper safety guidelines. 

The SPC Group is no stranger to making headlines for their predatory practices that endanger their employees. Just a little over a week before the 23-year-old’s death, another worker lost their hand to a production line machine — the employee was refused hospital care support because she was a non-regular worker. Furthermore, numerous workers have had their aprons caught in machines at their Pyeongtaek factory, yet the SPC Group refused to take any action to ensure the safety of their workers. It is not enough to say that the SPC Group has little care for their workers; it is doubtful that giant conglomerates like them even see their workers as humans.

Blue-collar workers all over the world face the same cruel reality. From Amazon workers being forced to pee in bottles to sexual and physical abuse in garment factories in Asia and Africa, it has reached the point where it no longer comes as a surprise when a corporation is exposed for such heinous practice. The lack of extensive labor laws and their enforcement is simply inhumane — workers are treated as disposable products, and megacorporations are not afraid to show it. Labor unions are the primary, if not the only, safeguard workers have, but even those are either forcefully disbanded or disregarded by these powerful corporations.

The Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Workers’ Union tried to safeguard the life of the 23-year-old victim when they brought up the issue that the factory severely lacked night shift personnel numerous times before the incident. Instead of heeding their advice, the SPC Group further pressured their workers to take up 12-hour-long night shifts. The victim’s mother believes that her daughter’s love for baking and pastry-making was taken advantage of by her employers to exploit her labor. This incident is just one of the many reminders that not only labor unions should be further empowered, but also that the government should take a more prominent role in protecting the rights of workers.

Conglomerates act with such impunity due to the lack of apt repercussions from the government. When workers for the SPC Group cried for proper safety measures, the company only argued that they have no such responsibility under the current law. The SPC Group makes a good point; legal exploits like this and like the one they used to avoid paying the hospital bill of a non-regular worker are clear indicators that there is something wrong with the current law. Companies like the SPC Group use what is legal to conduct what is immoral. It is only through proper labor laws and their enforcement that the companies will straighten their crooked ways. 
Currently, suffering workers are left with no choice but to ask everyday citizens to boycott companies that conduct predatory practices. The onus thus falls on individual consumers to provide the consequences for the crimes that these companies have committed, and that should be a slap in the face for any government. In already tumultuous times, people not only have to worry about their survival, but also from whom they acquire basic needs. Boycotting being one of the most effective ways to ensure worker safety puts an unjust burden on the people, especially since the list of companies that should be boycotted is laughably long. In the very first place, it should be the duty of the government to ensure that no company exploits their workers. Until they do, families will have to keep mourning the “accidental” deaths of their loved ones.