<Anchor> When

Homeplus, a hypermarket, recently tried to close some stores, the union rebelled and went on strike. Strikes continue at over 80 stores across the country until this weekend, and Homeplus is in a position that there will be no disruption to sales.

This is reporter No.

<Reporter>

[Let's smash it! Debts created by MBK MBK solve!] The

Homeplus branch of the mart industry union went on strike today (14th) in Ulsan, Gyeongnam and Gangwon areas.

Tomorrow, 11 stores in Seoul and other stores in the metropolitan area will join the two-day strike.

The union claims the management provided the cause of the strike.

If the two stores in Ansan and Tanbang in Daejeon are sold, mass unemployment is inevitable.

In the case of the Ansan branch that was decided to be sold, it is claimed that there is no reason to close the store, saying that it is a well-rounded store with 200 full-time employees.

[Kim Gyu-soon/Homeplus union Ansan branch president: Sales always maintained in the top 1, 2, and 3rd place. Even now, sales are coming out very well. It is said that the land price has risen 10 times, and this is a real estate speculation.]

Following E-Mart, Homeplus, the second largest hypermarket industry, has been managed by a private equity fund MBK Partners in 2015, taking over the entire stake of the British capital Tesco.

The management is in a position that it is inevitable to secure cash by selling stores as the poor performance was so severe that last year's net loss alone reached 530 billion won.

Homeplus said that there would be no disruption in store operation by utilizing available manpower to minimize customer damage.

(Video coverage: Choi Ho-jun and Park Jin-hoon, video editing: Seo Hyun-joong, CG: Um So-min) 

▶'Deteriorating performance' Large marts that are closing… Concerns about '100,000 unemployment'