The union of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. staged an all-out strike to protest the company’s restructuring program, which is about to reduce 75% of its labor costs. The union announced that about 700 unionized workers, including 300 on leave. “Even workers who were on leave joined this general strike and we will hold protests until the company scraps the planned layoff of workers in the manufacturing sector,” a union official said. “We are willing to embrace cuts in welfare or wages if our employment is guaranteed.”
At the shipyard in Jinhae, STX is constructing 5 ships ordered last April. In response to the union’s strike, the company has injected 1,100 employees from sub-contracting firms into the construction process.
“Because it is still the early stages of ship construction, it is not a big problem yet; however, if the strike goes on, the construction schedule might be delayed,” an STX official said. STX plans to continue talks with the union.