Shipyard at South Korea’s Daewoo hit by long strike
Since 2 June, the subcontract workers at the Okpo shipyard are out on strike, demanding better economic conditions. President Yoon threatens forced removal but management and workers reach a last-minute tentative deal.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – After four years, South Korean shipbuilders are back leading the world in terms of orders, but for Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), it is crisis time.
Although one of South Korea's leading shipbuilders, its debt ratio is 547 per cent; in view of this, executives have asked workers to "acknowledge the situation that the company is in and work towards improvement."
For 150 contract workers on strike at the Okpo shipyard (southern South Korea) since 2 June, such a call sounds like a veiled threat.
The workers, who belong to a very militant trade union organisation, demand better working conditions, a 30 per cent wage increase, and one-year contracts.
To achieve their goal, workers have occupied an oil tanker in dry dock and Yoo Choi-ahn, deputy union chief, welded a steel cage-like structure to the floor of the occupied oil tanker locking himself inside.
However, the strike, which has been going on for over a month and a half, has begun to falter.
Last week a local court granted the DSME's an injunction, ordering workers to stop the strike and pay for damages caused to the company.
The government too issued warnings, accusing workers of irresponsibility.
“Since 2015, the government has committed 7.1 trillion won (US$ 5.2 billion) of taxpayer money to restructure the shipbuilder,” Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said, adding, "It is an irresponsible action that could destroy the trust in the Korean shipbuilding industry”.
The Korea Development Bank, a major state-owned bank, owns 55 per cent of the DSME
Workers say that their salaries are just above minimum wage even though the shipbuilder has received many orders.
Many South Koreans sympathise with the strikers, some making donations to the cause; in the meantime, friction with other company employees has increased at the site. The latter fear that the occupation could have negative implications for DSME.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol waded into the controversy in recent days issuing very stern statements.
“I think the people and the government have all waited long enough,” he said on Tuesday, hinting that the police could intervene to end the "illegal" occupation of the site.
For a few days it seemed that if the striking workers and DSME did not come to an agreement, forced eviction was the most likely option.
On Friday afternoon, amid the tensions and negotiations under pressure, workers and management managed to reach an agreement just a few hours before the start of the summer holidays.
Subcontract workers will get a salary increase of 4.5 per cent with some getting partial employment succession; however, the parties have failed so far to agree on ending the lawsuit against the strikers over damages.
For workers, it is very much a pyrrhic victory since the damages demanded by DSME are so high that many of the strikers will be hard-pressed to pay them.
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12/02/2016 15:14
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