Coway reaches labor deal with visiting service technicians' union without dispute

Coway has wrapped up collective bargaining with the union representing its visiting service technicians in just three months, without a labor dispute — a development drawing attention in the rental industry, which has long struggled with protracted negotiations over workers in special-employment arrangements.

Coway announced Tuesday that it had finalized a collective bargaining agreement with the Codi-Kodak branch, the union representing its visiting inspection and sales workers. The company began negotiations with the branch in March and reached a tentative agreement on June 22. A membership ratification vote held from June 26 through July 3 passed with 97.8 percent approval.

Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to raise inspection fees across all product lines and improve fee structures for special-zone assignments. Codi and Kodak workers visit customers' homes to inspect and maintain rental products such as water purifiers, air purifiers and bidet seats. Because they work under a per-case fee structure rather than a standard wage system, product-specific inspection fees and compensation for travel costs have been longstanding points of contention.

The speed of this agreement stands out against past negotiations. Coway's Codi and Kodak workers are classified as special-employment workers operating under consignment contracts, and since the union's founding in 2019 they have clashed with the company over bargaining rights and employee status. The first tentative collective bargaining agreement, reached in 2022, took roughly 14 months to negotiate.

In the rental industry, the stability of visiting service staff is closely tied to service quality. As the range of rental products — water purifiers, air purifiers, bidet seats, mattresses and more — has expanded, the importance of regular inspections and customer service has grown accordingly. Coway's decision to agree on fee improvements reflects a judgment that reducing turnover among field workers is essential to maintaining consistent service quality.

"Built on mutual understanding and trust between labor and management, we reached an amicable agreement in the shortest period ever — three months — without any dispute," a Coway official said. "Going forward, we will continue to work within a healthy cooperative relationship to secure sustainable competitiveness and do our utmost to maximize customer value."