South Korea: The labour union of Hanjin Heavy Industries has announced a general strike on Friday, February 26. Over a thousand union-member workers are expected to participate in the strike.
The union announced on February 23 that strike action would take place unless the management came through and accepted four demands which the union had put forth, Asiasis reported.
Demands included that the management should reprimand executives for not receiving any orders in the past year and a half. The union said that the CEO should take on some responsibility and try to secure orders.
The union also called for a US$8.7 million package to prevent the sacking of 300 workers. The union said it was wiling to compromise; if the management paid US$8.7 million, the union said it would top it up with a further US$4 million to prevent further redundancies.
Additionally, the union has demanded that the management stop layoffs and guarantee union members' job security.
The management responded to the unions demands saying that its arguments and demands were "not acceptable without detailed plan".
"If the union gives reasonable and feasible alternatives, then the management will have a sincere talk with the union to prevent the general strike," Asiasis quoted Hanjin management as saying.
In other news, Hanjin has cancelled yet another order. The cancelled vessel is a 6,500TEU containership ordered by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. The vessel has not been delivered because of problems with securing finance.
