Hanjin labor union ends 6-month strike

Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co., a South Korean shipyard, said Monday that its labor union ended a strike and will return to work soon.

In December last year, the shipyard's labor union launched a full-scale strike in opposition to a reduction in its workforce. The company shut down its main dockyard and two plants in this southern port city in February.

Hanjin Heavy said earlier it had lost some 16 billion won ($15 million) since the strikes started in December.

Union members have been opposing plans to cut about 400 jobs at local yards after the company made a net loss of 51.7 billion won last year.

Union members have been in dispute with management since June 2009, staging frequent stoppages that have forced the shipyard to use outside labor to avoid delivery delays.

The stand-off between the management and the labor culminated in February as the company decided to fire 170 workers citing "management reasons."

Hanjin Heavy has been building vessels at its Subic shipyard in the Philippines.

Shares of Hanjin Heavy were trading at 33,150 won on the Seoul bourse as of 2:20 p.m., up 4.25 percent. (Yonhap)