브레이크뉴스 정민우 기자= “개처럼 뛰고 있다”는 메시지를 남기고 숨진 고 정슬기씨를 비롯해 올해 쿠팡 배송자회사 쿠팡로지스틱스서비스(CLS)에서 장시간 고강도 노동에 내몰리다 숨진 사건이 잇따라 발생했지만, CLS에서 과로사 포함 질병 사망산재는 단 한 건도 없는 것으로 나타났다.
김주영 더불어민주당 의원이 근로복지공단으로부터 제출받은 최근 3년간(2021년 2024년 8월) 쿠팡·쿠팡풀필먼트서비스(CFS)·쿠팡로지스틱스서비스(CLS)·쿠팡이츠에서 발생한 산업재해 승인 건수는 총 7640건에 달했다.
쿠팡CFS는 물류센터 운영, CLS는 배송 전문으로 로켓배송 등 택배 배송과 물류 담당, 쿠팡이츠는 음식 배달 플랫폼 운영 자회사다.
4개사 통계가 모두 존재하는 최근 3년(2021년~2024년 8월)만 보면 쿠팡 4개사에서는 전체 8266건 중 7640건(92.4%)이 승인됐다. 회사별로 보면 쿠팡 4086건 중 3817건(93.4%), CFS 1885건 중 1671건(88.6%), CLS 825건 중 799건(96.8%), 쿠팡이츠 1천470건 중 1천353건(92%)이었다.
사고재해·출퇴근재해가 대부분 인정된 것과 달리 질병재해의 경우 승인율이 절반에도 못 미치는 것으로 드러났다. 지난해 사고재해 승인율은 95.9%로 1460건, 출퇴근재해 승인율은 96.9%로 158건이 산재로 승인된 데 비해, 질병재해는 35.8%로 34건에 불과했다.
택배나 물류업계 질병재해는 대부분 과로로 인한 근골격계질환이나 뇌심혈관계질환이라는 점을 감안하면 과로산재가 승인받기 어렵다는 현실을 보여주는 셈이다.
같은 기간 유족급여 청구 및 승인 현황을 보면 쿠팡 4개사에서 11건의 사망산재가 발생했다. 이중 사고재해가 9건, 출퇴근재해가 1건, 질병재해가 1건이었다.
그러나 CLS는 해당 기간 유족급여(최초) 처리 내역이 아예 없는 것으로 확인됐다. 사고·출퇴근 사망산재뿐만 아니라 과로사 포함 질병 사망산재가 ‘0건’이라는 의미다. CLS가 설립된 2018년까지 거슬러 올라가도 유족급여 처리 내역은 없는 것으로 나타났다.
이에 김 의원은 “집계 가능한 산재 통계만으로는 쿠팡노동자 전반의 과로사 사망자를 포착하기 쉽지 않다”고 지적했다. 쿠팡 배송·물류 노동자의 과로사가 이어지고 있지만, 사망한 쿠팡노동자들이 CLS 소속이 아닌 CLS와 계약을 맺은 영업점 소속인 경우가 대부분이기 때문이다.
택배노동자 대부분은 각 영업점과 계약을 맺고 있어 해당 영업점이 보험 가입 사업장이 되고, 택배기사가 질병으로 사망해 산재가 승인될 경우 해당 영업점의 산재로 처리된다. 즉, CLS의 위탁 영업점에서 발생한 산재신청·유족급여 청구는 쿠팡CLS의 산재 통계에 포함되지 않는다.
김 의원은 “최근 쿠팡에서는 배송·물류노동자 과로사가 이어지고 있다”며 “그런데 쿠팡CLS가 국내 5대 택배사 가운데 유일하게 산재사망 재해자가 한 명도 없는 회사로 나온다면 사실상 통계에 잡히지 않는 보호 사각지대가 있다는 것이다”고 꼬집었다.
break9874@naver.com
*아래는 위 기사를 '구글 번역'으로 번역한 영문 기사의 [전문]입니다. '구글번역'은 이해도 높이기를 위해 노력하고 있습니다. 영문 번역에 오류가 있을 수 있음을 전제로 합니다.<*The following is [the full text] of the English article translated by 'Google Translate'. 'Google Translate' is working hard to improve understanding. It is assumed that there may be errors in the English translation.>
Coupang's 4 companies, a total of 7,640 industrial accidents over 3 years... Coupang CLS industrial accident deaths 0?
Including the late Jeong Seol-gi, who died after leaving a message saying, “I’m running like a dog,” there have been a series of deaths this year at Coupang Logistics Service (CLS), a delivery subsidiary of Coupang, due to long hours of high-intensity labor. However, it has been revealed that CLS has not had a single case of industrial accidents resulting in death from illness or overwork.
According to the report submitted by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Joo-young from the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service over the past three years (August 2021 to 2024), the total number of industrial accidents approved by Coupang, Coupang Fulfillment Service (CFS), Coupang Logistics Service (CLS), and Coupang Eats reached 7,640.
Coupang CFS operates logistics centers, CLS specializes in delivery and is in charge of parcel delivery and logistics, including rocket delivery, and Coupang Eats is a food delivery platform operating subsidiary.
Looking at just the last three years (2021-August 2024) for which all four companies have statistics, the four Coupang companies approved 7,640 cases (92.4%) out of a total of 8,266 cases. By company, Coupang had 3,817 cases (93.4%) out of 4,086 cases, CFS had 1,671 cases (88.6%) out of 1,885 cases, CLS had 799 cases (96.8%) out of 825 cases, and Coupang Eats had 1,353 cases (92%) out of 1,470 cases.
Unlike most accidents and commuting accidents that were approved, the approval rate for disease accidents was less than half. Last year, the approval rate for accidents and disasters was 95.9%, with 1,460 cases, and the approval rate for commuting disasters was 96.9%, with 158 cases approved as industrial accidents, while the approval rate for disease-related disasters was only 35.8%, with 34 cases.
Considering that most disease-related disasters in the courier and logistics industries are musculoskeletal diseases or cerebrovascular diseases caused by overwork, this shows the reality that it is difficult to get approval for overwork-related disasters.
Looking at the status of claims and approvals for survivors’ benefits during the same period, 11 fatal industrial accidents occurred at four Coupang companies. Of these, 9 were accidents, 1 was commuting, and 1 was disease-related.
However, it was confirmed that CLS had no records of survivors’ benefits (first) processed during the period. This means that there were ‘0’ cases of fatal industrial accidents due to overwork, including accidents and commuting, as well as deaths due to disease. Even going back to 2018, when CLS was established, there were no records of survivors’ benefits being processed.
In response, Rep. Kim pointed out that “it is not easy to capture the number of deaths from overwork among Coupang workers based solely on the industrial accident statistics that can be collected.” Although Coupang delivery and logistics workers continue to die from overwork, most of the deceased Coupang workers are not affiliated with CLS but belong to sales outlets that have contracts with CLS.
Most courier workers have contracts with each sales outlet, so the sales outlet becomes the insured workplace, and if a courier dies from an illness and an industrial accident is approved, it is processed as an industrial accident at the sales outlet. In other words, industrial accident applications and survivors’ benefits claims that occurred at CLS’s contracted sales outlets are not included in Coupang CLS’s industrial accident statistics.
Rep. Kim said, “Recently, there have been a series of deaths from overwork among delivery and logistics workers at Coupang,” and added, “But if Coupang CLS is the only company among the top five delivery companies in Korea without a single industrial accident fatality, that means there is a blind spot in protection that is not captured in the statistics.”
