Hanwha Ocean said on the 5th that it held a "win-win cooperation declaration ceremony for prime and subcontractors" together with the Hanwha Ocean in-house partners council. Hanwha Ocean said it held the ceremony to share the company's business performance equally between prime and subcontractors and to join forces to create safe business sites.
At the ceremony held at Hanwha Ocean's Seoul office in Jung-gu, Seoul, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok; Chairperson of the Balanced Regional Development Committee Kim Kyeong-soo; and Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) Vice Minister Kwon Chang-jun attended from the government, along with CEO Kim Hee-cheul; Kim Seong-gu, chair of the in-house partners council; and other Hanwha Ocean officials.
Hanwha Ocean announced in Dec. last year that it would apply the same bonus payout rate to partner companies as to prime employees, and the win-win cooperation declaration ceremony was held as a follow-up measure.
In congratulatory remarks, Kim said, "I am deeply grateful that Hanwha Ocean introduced a system to prevent wage arrears at partner companies and withdrew damage claims lawsuits against partner company workers," and added, "I hope the practical win-win cooperation shown by Hanwha Ocean and its partners will become a milestone for building trust across all industries and moving into the future."
Chairperson Kim also emphasized in greetings, "I think today could be an opportunity for the many skilled shipbuilders who left the region to return."
The agreement signed that day by Hanwha Ocean and its in-house partners stated, "The company will share business performance together without discrimination between prime and subcontractors to close the compensation gap between company and partner employees, and will strive to improve partner employees' real working conditions."
It also included items such as, "The company and partners will set the establishment of zero-accident business sites as the top priority," and, "Partners fully agree that the company's sustainable development is an essential precondition for shared growth and will actively participate in policies to improve productivity and ensure stable process control."
Meanwhile, since its launch in 2023, Hanwha Ocean has raised the unit price increase rate for partner companies by an annual average of 5% and has paid 187.3 billion won in target achievement incentives to date.