[Courtesy of Hyundai Heavy Industries]
SEOUL -- Ahead of a shareholders meeting this week, unionized workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, launched a full strike against a deal to create a mega shipbuilder through the merger of two top shipyards in South Korea.
The labor union of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) based in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan has staged a partial walkout since May 16. The full strike on Tuesday came a day after hundreds of workers charged into a four-story building for a sit-down protest, triggering violent scuffles with HHI's security personnel.
Shareholders will gather at the building for cultural and sports activities, located outside HHI's headquarters in Ulsan, on Friday to endorse the division of HHI into two units. One unit will be combined with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). Large banners with slogans reading "Stop corporate division that will wipe out all the workers!"
HHI and Korea Development Bank (KDB), the largest shareholder of DSME, signed a formal contract on March 8. Through a complicated process of equity conversion or transfer, the shipyards of HHI and DSME will be run under the same roof of a new corporation.
KDB chairman Lee Dong-gull has ruled out any massive layoffs, but workers fear redundancies in overlapping business sectors. The two shipyards have already lost more than 30,000 jobs in a government-initiated campaign that began four years ago to restructure South Korea's shipbuilding industry. They think HHI will inherit massive debts from DSME.
The merger followed years of painful restructuring in South Korea's embattled shipbuilding industry, which has suffered from dwindling orders, a prolonged business slump and a strong challenge from Chinese shipyards. Policymakers think the integrated shipbuilder can achieve economies of scale, and increase productivity by sharing technology, design, parts and services.
With a massive injection of state money estimated at 10 trillion won ($8.4 billion), DSME has been kept afloat in return for a sweeping rehabilitation program. Initially, experts proposed that DSME should separate its defense section or merge with competitors, but policymakers have refused to do so, fearing a backlash from politicians, provincial government officials and voters.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
