In 2019, LA Times columnist Frank Shyong wrote about the plight of workers at some of LA’s Korean barbecue restaurants. Long hours and poor working conditions were a common occurrence. Now, workers at Genwa, a high-end Korean barbecue restaurant, have voted to form a union. LA Times Asian American communities reporter Jeong Park wrote about the unionization effort and what other Koreatown businesses may be next. He joined host Lisa McRee on LA Times Today.

Korean barbecue is particularly labor intensive for workers, since they cook patrons’ food at the tables and have to prepare a wide variety of dishes on the spot. At Genwa, a plate of galbi costs $75. Park explained how employees were treated when Shyong did his report.  

“They received minimum wage plus tips, which doesn’t sound high for such a labor-intensive job like cooking Korean barbecue,” Park said. “One dishwasher went blind because of the solution that’s used to clean grills. They also mentioned that how they were given 2 hours of break time in the middle of the shift, but they can’t really do anything because they couldn’t go home. ... They felt like it was labor violations that created these dangerous and often poor working conditions for the workers.”

Genwa was fined in 2020 because of those labor violations. The restaurant has since made improvements, but workers want to protect themselves in case conditions worsen.

“Workers organized and created an independent union called the California Retail and Restaurant Workers Union,” Park explained. “The organizers were former workers who persuaded current workers at Genwa that this union would work for them; that this union would give them a voice. ... [Employees] thought a union would be able to create a protection for the workers so they can speak if there’s any trouble down the line.”

So far, only one Genwa location has voted to unionize. Park talked about what the restaurant is saying about it.  

“[Genwa] voluntarily decided to recognize the union, which is not done by many places,” he said. “You see that with places like Amazon, the companies fight tooth and nail. Restauranteurs think having a union could actually improve the experience for customers and for them, because it creates this long-term plan that workers and restauranteurs could work on. And it could also help retain workers.”

The movement to unionize could spread beyond Genwa and into Korean grocery stores.  

“There’s a place called Hannam Chain, which is one of the biggest grocery stores in Koreatown, that some of the organizers are trying to unionize as well,” Park explained. “I think some Korean community leaders and some Korean experts feel like this move can spread because of what we’re seeing in the general labor market, the tightening of the labor market, and how that could spread to other places.”

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