Hanjin Heavy reaches tentative settlement

Unionists to vote on agreement today

By Kim Rahn

Labor and management of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction reached a tentative agreement Wednesday to end the months-long labor dispute sparked by the shipbuilding company’s massive layoffs.

The agreement is expected to conclude the 11 month deadlock in talks between the two sides and also end the 300-day sit-in by female activist Kim Jin-suk on the 35-meter high operator’s seat of a 50-meter giant crane in the company’s Yeongdo shipyard in Busan.

The union has decided to put the tentative agreement to a vote of all unionists today. Union leaders originally planned to hold the vote Wednesday but delayed it after police moved to take Kim into custody upon descending.

“We are going to hold the general meeting of unionists in the morning on Thursday and put the accord to a vote at 2 p.m.,” a union leader said.

Kim is expected to come down the crane today in the wake of the vote.

Police said they planned to take her into custody when she comes down the crane with an arrest warrant which was issued sometime ago.

The union leader said, “We agreed with management that when Kim descends, she will hold a media briefing and union members will guide her to the shipyard gate and hand her over to police.”

Earlier in the morning, the two sides concurred that the company would rehire 94 dismissed workers within a year ― a solution proposed by the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee last month to conclude the relentless standoff, officials from the company and labor union said.

If union members vote for the agreement, the dismissed employees are expected return to work around next November.

Management said it will give 20 million won to each of the laid-off employees as living expenses during the one-year suspension period in accordance with a proposal made by the Assembly and accepted by company Chairman Cho Nam-ho. It will offer 10 million won first and pay the rest in three installments.

The union and management will also drop all lawsuits and complaints they filed against each other.

“The agreement will take effect when activist Kim descends the crane. Kim said she would come down if union members vote to accept the agreement,” the union leader said.

A company official also said management will acknowledge the tentative agreement as a final one when Kim leaves the crane.

The Hanjin Heavy union launched a strike on Dec. 20 last year to protest the company’s plan to lay off 400 workers as part of cost-cutting measures. Kim, a member of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, climbed the crane on Jan. 6 and began her sit-in protest.

The labor dispute involved not only management and the union but also an umbrella union, labor and human rights groups, and even political parties. Supporters of the protesters visited the shipyard on five occasions on buses called “Hope Buses” from all around the country, with violent clashes occurring between protesters and police officers.

Even after the union ended the strike in June, the two sides didn’t reach an agreement. Among the first 400 workers who had faced being laid off, 306 decided to retire, while the remainder was dismissed. Early last month, the National Assembly made a mediation proposal which Cho accepted, and finally a tentative accord emerged.

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