Around 3,500 workers at South Korea’s shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) staged a three-hour work stoppage at the company’s headquarters in Ulsan on August 26 to protest the announced wage freeze, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The management of HHI announced plans to freeze wages for its workers following dismal financial results recorded in the first half of 2015 due to a decline in newbuilding orders and a downturn in the offshore oil and gas industry.
On the other hand, HHI’s workers are demanding up to KRW 127,560 (USD 107.44) increase in their monthly base pay and establishment of an ordinary wage system.
The three hour strike will be followed by a seven-hour strike of the high-ranking officials of the union starting Friday.
The unions have recently been faced with fierce criticism for promising workers financial gifts to join the strike. The gift certificates in question are said to be aimed at substituting the workers’ hourly pay at work, the Korea Herald writes.
World Maritime News Staff