Daewoo Shipbuilding Subcontractor Union's Illegal Strike Enters 50th Day... Final Stage of Subcontractor Labor Negotiations Faces Difficulties

12-Hour Marathon Negotiations Fail... "Big Disagreement Over Compensation"
If Compensation Is Not Asked, Management Could Be Charged With Breach of Trust
Daewoo Shipbuilding Branch to Vote on 'Metalworkers Union Withdrawal' on 21st and 22nd

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Negotiations between the subcontractor union and partner companies, who have been conducting an illegal occupation protest for 50 days at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering's Okpo Shipyard, are facing difficulties.

According to industry sources on the 21st, both sides have held a total of six negotiation sessions from last week until the 20th but have not reached an agreement. In particular, the subcontractor labor and management held a marathon negotiation lasting over 12 hours the day before but ultimately ended empty-handed.

Although there was considerable progress on wages and labor rights guarantees, a significant gap remained regarding compensation for damages. Initially, the union demanded a 30% wage increase to recover wage cuts but lowered the increase to 5%, and the management reportedly reached a consensus on the labor rights guarantees requested by the union.

However, negotiations appear to have stalled as opinions continued to diverge on who should be responsible for the losses caused by the strike. The union requested the withdrawal of damage claims separately from the wage increase demand, but both the primary and subcontractors have refused.

The Metalworkers' Union Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong Shipbuilding Subcontractor Branch claims that the management initially responded positively to withdrawing damage claims but suddenly changed their stance, preventing an agreement.

In response, the partner companies' negotiation team stated, "There was an opinion among representatives that they could not accept not filing a lawsuit without company-level processing according to company regulations," adding, "This is a matter for individual companies to decide, not something we can collectively handle for all companies."

They emphasized that the strike has already caused losses exceeding 200 billion KRW by the end of last month, and if the strike continues until the end of this month, losses will exceed 800 billion KRW, maintaining their position against withdrawing the lawsuit.

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik also visited Geoje for two consecutive days to meet with labor and management to resolve the issue, but the wide gap in positions prevented successful mediation. However, both sides stated, "We will not give up hope and will actively try to narrow differences in tomorrow's negotiations." Negotiations will resume at 10 a.m. on the 21st.

There are concerns that if negotiations are not concluded by this weekend, the situation could escalate to the worst-case scenario involving the deployment of public authority. The police are reportedly preparing for the deployment of public authority and related countermeasures.

Meanwhile, the Daewoo Shipbuilding production workers' union plans to hold a vote from today until the 22nd to decide whether to withdraw from the Metalworkers' Union. If the Daewoo Shipbuilding production workers' union, which belongs to the Metalworkers' Union, withdraws, it could become another variable in the negotiations. This union has 4,700 members out of 8,600 Daewoo Shipbuilding production workers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.