 HHIC Chairman |
The labor union and management of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) have resumed negotiations to resolve a dispute over the company’s massive layoff plan, raising hopes they may reach an agreement.
HHIC Chairman Cho Nam-ho held a closed-door meeting with Park Sang-cheol, chairman of the Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), at a Seoul hotel for an hour late Tuesday night. The umbrella labor organization has been talking with management on behalf of the firm’s union.
The two had initially planned to meet at the company headquarters in Yongsan but decided to change the venue to avoid press coverage.
They agreed to make all-out efforts to end the ongoing labor-management standoff as quickly as possible.
``Cho and Park agreed to work together to normalize the company’s operations as soon as possible. Based on their agreements, we will start negotiations with the firm’s working-level officials on how to resolve the dispute,’’ a KCTU official said.
In a letter to company employees, Cho said Tuesday that he decided to accept the National Assembly’s proposal last week in order to get the company back on track.
``We should work hard to increase revenue so that we can hire dismissed workers back a year later. I believe that the KCTU and the company’s union will also accept the Assembly’s recommendations. Accordingly, the ongoing labor-management standoff, including a sit-in protest on top of a crane, will come to an end soon,’’ Cho said.
The chairman accepted the lawmakers’ arbitration plan under which the company re-hires 94 dismissed workers in one year and provides financial support of less than 20 million won per worker.
In return, Cho demanded that Kim Jin-suk, a member of the KCTU’s Busan branch, stop a sit-in on a 50-meter-high giant crane at the firm’s Yeongdo shipyard.
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