Economic Group "Welcome the End of Daewoo Shipbuilding Strike... Illegal Acts Must Not Be Repeated"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Economic organizations have welcomed the end of the strike by the subcontractor labor union of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and urged that the wrongful practices in the industrial field must not be repeated.

On the 22nd, the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) issued a statement saying, "It is fortunate that the subcontractor labor and management of DSME have agreed on key issues and that the union's illegal activities have ceased," adding, "The significant damage caused to the company, workers, and local economy by the illegal acts of the Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong shipbuilding subcontractor branch is at a level that cannot be easily recovered."

They further stated, "The continuation of militant labor movements and illegal acts in the industrial field from the past was largely influenced by lenient law enforcement and civil/criminal immunity for illegal acts," and emphasized, "Going forward, the union must actively cooperate in normalizing production and management, and the government should keep in mind that the first step in reforming labor-management relations lies in establishing the rule of law in the industrial field."

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said, "We are relieved that the negotiations were dramatically resolved through labor-management agreement," pointing out, "DSME suffered losses exceeding 700 billion won due to the unreasonable strike that lasted 51 days."

The FKI added, "Illegal acts can never be justified under any circumstances, so such illegal strikes must not be repeated in the future," and urged, "We hope the government will firmly uphold the rule of law in the industrial field through strict responses based on law and principles."

Kang Seok-gu, Head of Research at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said, "We hope that this incident will serve as an opportunity to improve the longstanding practice of illegal strikes by labor groups holding corporate management and the national economy hostage, leading to a more mature labor-management relationship," and requested, "We urge the government to accelerate urgent labor reforms."

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