"While we feel that wages are insufficient, the core reason current negotiations have failed to reach an agreement lies in institutional improvements."
Yoo Young-nam, Director of External Cooperation at the Hanwha Ocean Branch of the Metal Workers' Union, stated this during a press conference held on the 23rd at the Metal Workers' Union meeting room in Jung-gu, Seoul. He explained that the union's core demand is to change the system because bonus calculations are conducted in an "opaque" manner where the criteria are completely unknown. This explanation addressed why no agreement was reached despite 29 rounds of labor-management negotiations this year.
Additionally, while the Hanwha Ocean union insists that an accident investigation body composed of equal numbers of labor and management representatives must be explicitly stated in the collective bargaining agreement to prevent holding workers accountable for industrial accidents, the company side has shown reluctance. Consequently, failing to find common ground since the first negotiation on June 4, the Hanwha Ocean union has continued partial strikes lasting four or seven hours, with all members participating at least once a week. Kim Yu-cheol of the Metal Workers' Union's HanwhaOh Syeon-ji (Chairman) branch is also in his 18th day of high-altitude protest.
The labor and management sides of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries reached a second provisional agreement on this year's wage and collective bargaining (WCB) on the same day, which includes a base salary increase of 120,000 won (including 55,000 won for seniority-based raises), a lump-sum payment of 11.5 million won, and a bonus payment of 200%. Kim Jong-dae, head of the Hyundai Heavy Industries branch of the Metal Workers' Union, who had been conducting a high-altitude protest on a crane since the 19th, also ended his protest. A compromise was reached regarding the disputed difference in severance pay calculation criteria with the former HD Hyundai Mipo by allowing workers to choose any continuous three months out of the four months immediately preceding their resignation.
A member vote on the second provisional agreement remains until the 27th for the final resolution of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' WCB. Attention is focused on whether it will pass, given that the first provisional agreement was rejected with 52.14% voting against it. Even if the agreement passes, normalizing negotiations between prime contractors and subcontractors and addressing discrimination issues facing migrant workers who are set to renew their contracts next month remain unresolved tasks. The union plans to demand that bonuses, for which payment criteria have not yet been finalized, be distributed to all workers involved in production using 30% of operating profit as the funding source.
Behind the ongoing labor-management conflicts over wage increases, bonus distribution, and institutional improvements in the shipbuilding industry lies a sharp improvement in performance. Expectations for "MASGA," a U.S.-Korea shipbuilding cooperation project, have added to the global shipbuilding supercycle, increasing demands for profit sharing due to the boom. In the case of Hanwha Ocean, after turning profitable in 2024, it expanded its operating profit to 1.1091 trillion won last year. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries returned to profitability in 2023 and joined the 2nd trillion won club in operating profit last year.
Arguments are gaining traction that labor and management must find common ground on profit sharing and working condition improvements and conclude negotiations promptly to connect the shipbuilding boom with sustained competitiveness enhancement. An official from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said, "Since labor and management have once again prepared a provisional agreement through negotiations, we hope this agreement leads to a smooth resolution."
in INDUSTRY
