ID :
200405
Wed, 08/10/2011 - 13:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/200405
The shortlink copeid
Hanjin Heavy chairman vows to settle labor strike over mass layoffs
(ATTN: UPDATES with details on the parliamentary hearing in 14th para)
BUSAN/SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- The embattled chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction vowed Wednesday to make efforts to settle an eight-month-long labor dispute triggered by the shipbuilder's massive layoffs.
After arriving home earlier Wednesday from what critics have called a monthlong escape abroad, Cho Nam-ho vowed, "I will fulfill all my duties in order to revive the company."
Cho went abroad in June as lawmakers moved to bring him in for a parliamentary hearing.
"Workforce restructuring was an inevitable decision needed to secure the firm's survival from the global financial crisis," Cho said in a speech to the public. He also apologized for the worries spawned during the workforce restructuring process.
Unionized workers of the company's mid-sized shipyard in the southern port city of Busan waged a strike from December to June after the company released a plan to cut 400 jobs as part of restructuring efforts.
In late June, the firm signed a deal with workers to end the strike after promising more favorable retirement benefits to those who opt to resign voluntarily.
But the dispute did not die down, as some militant union workers refused to accept the agreed-upon terms while the company used physical force to drive protesting workers from its shipyard in Yeongdo, Busan.
The ongoing labor dispute gathered particular attention from the public and media with a solo protest by one woman, Kim Jin-sook, a former Hanjin Heavy worker and member of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions. Since January, Kim has protested from atop a 35-meter tower crane at the Yeongdo shipyard.
Kim said Cho's apology was not enough to solve the ongoing conflict sparked by the shipbuilder's mass layoff plan.
"I have protested from the top of the crane for 217 days, calling for scrapping the layoff plan," Kim told Yonhap by phone. "(People) tell me to come down, but I won't without sincere action on the issue."
Cho has indicated that the labor cut will stand.
The shipbuilder drew heavy criticism from human rights groups when it cut electricity to the shipyard, prompting some opposition lawmakers and civic activists to pay repeated visits to Kim in a show of support.
Opposition lawmakers' support for Kim's protest, which police and the conservative political party call an "illegal strike," has created political debates, sparking them to hold a National Assembly hearing on the matter.
Later Wednesday, a parliamentary committee held a meeting to discuss whether to hold a parliamentary hearing on the troubled shipbuilder in an extra session later this month, but lawmakers of rival parties failed to agree on the list of witnesses.
"Even after Hanjin Heavy Industries settles its labor disputes, we will demand that Cho attend the parliamentary questioning," said Kim Jin-pyo, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP). "As Hanjin's case has become a watershed in South Korea's layoff problem, we have to deal with the overall labor issues through the parliamentary questioning."
In his remarks, Cho vowed to make more efforts to support workers leaving the company, suggesting a package of additional benefits for those who are laid off.
Cho's pledges and remarks, the first of their kind since the workers began striking in December, provided fresh hope for a resolution in the firm's deadlocked negotiations with its labor force.
BUSAN/SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- The embattled chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction vowed Wednesday to make efforts to settle an eight-month-long labor dispute triggered by the shipbuilder's massive layoffs.
After arriving home earlier Wednesday from what critics have called a monthlong escape abroad, Cho Nam-ho vowed, "I will fulfill all my duties in order to revive the company."
Cho went abroad in June as lawmakers moved to bring him in for a parliamentary hearing.
"Workforce restructuring was an inevitable decision needed to secure the firm's survival from the global financial crisis," Cho said in a speech to the public. He also apologized for the worries spawned during the workforce restructuring process.
Unionized workers of the company's mid-sized shipyard in the southern port city of Busan waged a strike from December to June after the company released a plan to cut 400 jobs as part of restructuring efforts.
In late June, the firm signed a deal with workers to end the strike after promising more favorable retirement benefits to those who opt to resign voluntarily.
But the dispute did not die down, as some militant union workers refused to accept the agreed-upon terms while the company used physical force to drive protesting workers from its shipyard in Yeongdo, Busan.
The ongoing labor dispute gathered particular attention from the public and media with a solo protest by one woman, Kim Jin-sook, a former Hanjin Heavy worker and member of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions. Since January, Kim has protested from atop a 35-meter tower crane at the Yeongdo shipyard.
Kim said Cho's apology was not enough to solve the ongoing conflict sparked by the shipbuilder's mass layoff plan.
"I have protested from the top of the crane for 217 days, calling for scrapping the layoff plan," Kim told Yonhap by phone. "(People) tell me to come down, but I won't without sincere action on the issue."
Cho has indicated that the labor cut will stand.
The shipbuilder drew heavy criticism from human rights groups when it cut electricity to the shipyard, prompting some opposition lawmakers and civic activists to pay repeated visits to Kim in a show of support.
Opposition lawmakers' support for Kim's protest, which police and the conservative political party call an "illegal strike," has created political debates, sparking them to hold a National Assembly hearing on the matter.
Later Wednesday, a parliamentary committee held a meeting to discuss whether to hold a parliamentary hearing on the troubled shipbuilder in an extra session later this month, but lawmakers of rival parties failed to agree on the list of witnesses.
"Even after Hanjin Heavy Industries settles its labor disputes, we will demand that Cho attend the parliamentary questioning," said Kim Jin-pyo, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP). "As Hanjin's case has become a watershed in South Korea's layoff problem, we have to deal with the overall labor issues through the parliamentary questioning."
In his remarks, Cho vowed to make more efforts to support workers leaving the company, suggesting a package of additional benefits for those who are laid off.
Cho's pledges and remarks, the first of their kind since the workers began striking in December, provided fresh hope for a resolution in the firm's deadlocked negotiations with its labor force.
