대리점주에 대한 폭언 사건으로 곤욕을 치르고 있는 남양유업이 불매운동 확산이란 악재까지 맞았다.
국내 편의점 3대 업체인 CU(구 보광 훼미리마트)ㆍGS25ㆍ세븐일레븐의 점주 단체 연합회인 전국편의점가맹점사업자단체협의회(이하 전편협)는 8일 공식 성명을 내고, 남양유업 제품 불매운동을 본격적으로 시작한다고 밝혔다.
전편협은 성명을 통해 남양유업의 폭언과 제품 강매(일명 ‘밀어내기’)를 “비인륜적이고 야만적”이라며 비난하면서 진심어린 사과와 재발방지책을 요구했다. 이들은 “홈페이지에 올려놓은 대표이사 명의의 형식적 사과로는 부족하다”며 “진심을 담아 대국민 사과를 하고, 다시는 이런 일이 일어나지 않도록 관련 임직원 징계 등 국민들이 이해할 수 있는 대책을 발표하라”고 촉구했다.
전편협은 편의점 가맹점을 운영하는 전국의 점주 1만5000여명으로 구성된 단체다. 이들이 불매운동을 공식 선언한 만큼, 매출 하락 등 남양유업이 입을 타격이 적지 않을 것으로 전망된다.
강중호 전편협 대표는 “편의점은 남양유업에 주문을 하는 것이 아니라 편의점 본사에 주문을 하는 구조이기 때문에 상품 발주 중단이 자유롭다”라며 “점주들이 자율적으로 참여할 것이지만, 참여율은 꽤 높을 것”이라고 전했다.
이준인 세븐일레븐경영주모임 대표는 “남양유업의 커피음료 ‘프렌치카페’는 매일유업의 ‘카페라떼’로, 남양 우유는 서울우유로 대체할 수 있기 때문에 매출에는 문제가 없을 것”이라고 말했다.
한편, 영업사원이 대리점주에게 폭언까지 하며 제품을 강매하는 음성 파일이 공개되면서 불거진 남양유업 사태는 검찰 조사 등으로 그 여파가 걷잡을 수 없이 커지고 있다. 영업직원들이 대리점주들에게 떡값을 받았다는 의혹도 나온 가운데, 검찰은 남양유업의 불공정영업에 대한 조사에 나섰다. 남양유업 주가는 폭언사건이 수위로 노출된 지난 2일 이후 거래일 4일 동안 11% 넘게 하락했고, 이 와중에 홍원식 남양유업 회장은 70억원 상당의 지분을 매각해 구설수에 올랐다. (도현정 기자)
<관련 영문 기사>
Namyang Dairy in crisis
Rapid economic democratization urged following dairy maker’s mistreatment of distributor
By Park Hyong-ki
Namyang Dairy, one of Korea’s biggest dairy giants, is taking a turn for the worse following a nationwide uproar caused by one of its salesmen ranting and swearing at its distributor.
Ever since an audio file that contained the conversation between Namyang’s salesperson and the distributor was exposed last week on the net, including YouTube, consumers have posted messages on their blogs or taken to the street holding placards urging the general public to stop buying its products ranging from milk and cheese to yogurt and baby food.
The pressure has spread to convenience stores to suspend sales of all Namyang-branded products, with the public urging a rapid implementation of measures for fair business practices. The so-called economic democratization led by the new government aims to root out Korea’s long-standing “corporate caste system” where conglomerates commonly abuse their power against suppliers that are generally pressured to cut prices and deal with more chaebol goods than they can handle.
Other dairy makers such as Seoul Milk and Korea Yakult are likely to take a hit by this latest fiasco as the Fair Trade Commission has reportedly launched a probe into the industry over whether they unfairly pressured and dumped their products onto their distributors in order to meet their sales quota.
The two-minute audio file contained verbal abuses against the small distributor who was seemingly older than the Namyang salesperson and pleaded that he could not store any more of the dairy company’s products for distribution.
However, the salesperson swore at him, saying that he either take its goods, or throw them away and go bust, while threatening that he would "kill" the distributor.
It’s eruption on the net, reminding the public of actor Christian Bale’s rant against a crewmember during the shoot of his movie few years ago, not only drove Namyang’s share prices to spiral downward, but also damaged its credibility of being a socially responsible company.
Despite Namyang’s apology posted on its homepage, the public was not satisfied, claiming it lacked sincerity.
Its stocks continued to take a nosedive over the last five trading days, falling once below 1 million won ($919), further beset by Namyang chairman Hong Wong-sik unloading his shares amid the public outcry.
Hong’s equity ownership in the company dropped from 19.92 percent to 19.65 percent, according to a regulatory filing. Namyang shares ended at 1,003,000 won, down 18,000 won or 1.76 percent on Wednesday.
Industry sources said this incident just shows the “tip of the iceberg” regarding relations between conglomerates and their small and medium suppliers or distributors, which never have been equal business partners.
Demanding price cuts of suppliers’ parts and goods for conglomerates is common.
For instance, suppliers get nervous whenever executive reshuffling occurs at domestic conglomerates as the new executive would undo previous contracts signed by his predecessor and demand to renegotiate lower prices, an industry executive said.
Conglomerates also generally do not want to see their suppliers grow “too big” as that would make it difficult to keep SMEs in their “shadows.” This is one reason a growing number of SMEs seek to supply to overseas customers even though it is much more difficult to tap multinational companies. But overseas companies are more known to more fairly select and treat their supplying partners through proper open bids and evaluations, another industry official said.
Namyang’s incident comes weeks after when an executive of steel giant POSCO’s energy subsidiary allegedly mistreated a flight attendant over food service. Both the executive and Namyang’s salesperson had been let go.
Eliminating malpractices and unfair acts by conglomerates has been one of President Park Geun-hye’s cornerstone policy pledges to sustain the economy based on creativity and fairness. (
hkp@heraldcorp.com)
