Fire at Hankook Tire Daejeon Plant Partner Company, Around 260 Employees Recommended to Resign

"No comment, suddenly recommended, absurd"

A subcontractor of Hankook Tire's Daejeon plant, where production was halted due to a fire, has notified employees of recommended resignations.

According to Hankook Tire on the 8th, subcontractors affiliated with the Daejeon plant have been conducting recommended resignations for about 260 workers since the 7th.

The subjects include approximately 120 employees from two companies whose contracts with Hankook Tire are about to be terminated, and about 140 employees from five companies whose contract terms have become inevitably subject to change due to the halt in plant production. Some subcontractors have already agreed on the 7th to pay severance pay on the condition of resignation by the 16th to those subject to recommended resignation.

The workers are protesting, claiming that the management is coercing recommended resignations. The Hankook Tire labor union criticized, saying, "After being silent for about a month since the fire, they are now notifying individual workers," and added, "It is outrageous to start with layoffs without preparing measures such as transfers to other subcontractors within Hankook Tire."

Hankook Tire stated that whether to recommend resignation is determined by the subcontractors, so the company cannot intervene. However, they said they will actively assist subcontractors and workers to overcome the difficult situation.

Earlier, around 10 p.m. on the 12th of last month, a fire broke out at the 2nd plant of Hankook Tire's Daejeon factory. The entire interior of the 2nd plant (about 87,000㎡) and 210,000 tires stored in the 2nd plant's 3rd logistics warehouse were completely burned, and the fire was fully extinguished after 58 hours.

Hankook Tire suspended all production at the Daejeon plant starting from the 13th of last month. Most of the approximately 3,000 affiliated workers were ordered to standby. Among them, about 750 contract and dispatched workers belong to eight subcontractors.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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