The Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong shipbuilding subcontractors’ branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union stages a high-altitude sit-in at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard. Photo courtesy of the Joint Struggle Committee for Victory in Hanwha Ocean Prime Contractor Negotiations
GEOJE — Subcontract workers at Hanwha Ocean (042660.KS) who have demanded collective bargaining with the prime contractor climbed a crane and a factory roof, saying no talks have been held more than six months after a revised labor union law took effect.
Kang In-seok, head of the Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong shipbuilding subcontractors branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, and five other members climbed onto the roof of a pre-painting plant and a crane at a scaffolding assembly yard inside Hanwha Ocean’s shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, at about 12:30 p.m. on the 30th and began a sit-in. It came 218 days after the branch started a tent protest in February this year demanding collective bargaining with Hanwha Ocean.
The union has demanded collective bargaining with Hanwha Ocean as the prime contractor under the revised Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, which took effect on March 10. The union said it turned to a high-altitude protest after the talks failed to materialize.
A separate case involving the Wellive branch, which joined the bargaining demand, is awaiting a court ruling. The Wellive branch is a union made up of workers at subcontractors that handle catering and facility management at Hanwha Ocean. When Hanwha Ocean posted public notice of the bargaining demands in March, it included the subcontractors branch but excluded the Wellive branch.
The South Gyeongsang Regional Labor Relations Commission ruled on May 15 that Hanwha Ocean must post notice of the bargaining demand including the Wellive branch. The National Labor Relations Commission reached the same conclusion in July, finding that Hanwha Ocean qualifies as the employer of the Wellive branch. Hanwha Ocean contested the decision and filed for a suspension of its execution, and the case is now before the Seoul Administrative Court.
In a statement, the subcontractors branch said that if the Ministry of Employment and Labor cannot compel bargaining with the prime contractor, subcontract workers have no choice but to fight for it themselves. “It is lamentable that workers must once again risk their lives for basic rights,” the branch said.
Subcontract workers also staged a 51-day strike in 2022 demanding bargaining with the prime contractor, followed by hunger strikes and high-altitude protests. The union said that campaign led to the revision of the labor union law, but that bargaining with prime contractors still has not taken place even after the revised law took effect.
A Hanwha Ocean official said the company regrets what it called a clear and unjustified illegal act and will respond in accordance with procedures set by law.
The Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong shipbuilding subcontractors’ branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union stages a high-altitude sit-in at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard. Photo courtesy of the Joint Struggle Committee for Victory in Hanwha Ocean Prime Contractor Negotiations