Samsung Heavy-Daewoo Shipbuilding "Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Unfair Employee Poaching"... Filed Complaint with Fair Trade Commission

The Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard can be seen beyond the downtown area of Dong-gu, Ulsan.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Four shipbuilding companies?Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, K Shipbuilding, and Daehan Shipbuilding?have decided to file a complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) against Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the shipbuilding holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, alleging unfair poaching of their personnel.

According to the shipbuilding industry on the 25th, these four companies plan to file a complaint with the KFTC as early as this week, citing unfair poaching of key personnel.

The companies claim that Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering unfairly poached about 300 key personnel last year and in the first half of this year. In their complaint, the four shipbuilders stated, "Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering approached key personnel and offered conditions such as salaries above the usual level and bonuses to induce them, and to conceal this, they used tactics like encouraging applications through open recruitment for experienced positions," adding, "They provide extra points or exemptions from document screening during the application process." Notably, among the personnel who moved were research and design staff related to eco-friendly high value-added vessels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

A representative from Company A, one of the affected firms, said, "Especially in the first half of this year, a large number of personnel moved to Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering," adding, "In some cases, entire teams or departments were poached, which has raised concerns within the industry." Another representative from Company B said, "Technical personnel require high skill levels, and as they concentrate in one company, the manpower shortage in other shipbuilders will become more severe."

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has been addressing manpower shortages by conducting large-scale open recruitment for both new and experienced hires in the first half of this year. Opinions differ on whether the open recruitment process can be considered unfair poaching. Key issues are expected to include whether the company contacted personnel from other firms before recruitment to provide procedural advantages and whether salaries offered exceeded the usual wage range.

A Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering official stated, "We are conducting a standard open recruitment process, and all experienced hires are treated equally," adding, "We have never unfairly poached personnel, and if a complaint is filed with the Fair Trade Commission, we will respond accordingly."

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