Some 300 workers at South Korean yard Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) staged a partial strike today as a result of the company suspending work at its offshore facility in August due to a lack of new orders.
According to the worker’s union at the yard, a key issue is how to address the large number of idle workers when the offshore facilities are closed.
The union accused the management of HHI of carrying out unilateral restructuring and pushing to outsource jobs. Workers are planning to hold general strikes from July 19 to 24 and the strikes could be extended in case there is no progress.
A sharp decline in offshore projects has led to the company achieving just 28% of its annual order target of $10.17bn for 2018.
HHI currently has 5,600 workers at its offshore facility including 2,600 regular employees and 3,000 from contractors, who all face being laid off.
