HHI, Workers Reach Agreement on Wages

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has negotiated a tentative agreement in this year’s protracted wage talks with its unionized workers, according to local media.

The company and its workers agreed to freeze the base pay of yard employees and distribute a 100 percent bonus increase, plus an additional USD 1,283 (KRW 1.5 million).

The 2015 saw HHI’s workers take several actions against the company’s measures to return to profitability due to the decline in newbuilding orders and a downturn in the offshore oil and gas industry.

In August, around 3,500 workers voiced their dissatisfaction with the announced wage freeze with a three-hour work stoppage at the company’s headquarters in Ulsan, and announced two strikes in September during which they called for wage increases and better working conditions.

HHI expects that the 2015 tentative agreement will be finalized on 28 December.

As World Maritime News reported, the shipbuilding giant reported a net loss of USD 398.4 million (KRW 451.4 billion) in its earnings report for the third quarter of 2015.

According to the disclosure, 3Q sales came in at KRW 10.9184 trillion and operating loss at KRW 678.4 billion.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, sales declined 8.7%, while operating loss and net loss widened by KRW 507.4 billion and KRW 209 billion respectively, due to delays in offshore projects and lackluster sales of the construction equipment business, the company said.

World Maritime News Staff