Hanwha Ocean subcontract workers secured the right to strike against the prime contractor for the first time since the implementation of the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers.
According to labor groups on the 2nd, the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission decided to suspend mediation in the cases filed by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Metal Workers' Union Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong Shipbuilding Subcontractor Branch and the Welliv Branch (the union of a meal service and cleaning company) against Hanwha Ocean. The commission made the decision after holding a mediation meeting for about seven hours starting at 10 a.m. that day.
As a result, the Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong subcontractor branch and the Welliv branch can carry out a legal strike against Hanwha Ocean. The union said that, after the enforcement of Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, the labor-management conflict over bargaining with the prime contractor led to the first actual case of securing the right to strike. The law allows a subcontractor union to demand bargaining with the prime contractor and is also called the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers.
The Welliv branch has already completed a strike ballot. On the 18th to 19th of last month, in a strike vote asking whether to carry out industrial action against Hanwha Ocean, 406 of 437 members participated, with 342 (84.2%) voting in favor. The KCTU Metal Workers' Union Geoje-Tongyeong-Goseong Shipbuilding Subcontractor Branch is also conducting a strike ballot from the 29th of last month to the 3rd.
These unions demanded collective bargaining with Hanwha Ocean, the prime contractor, on Mar. 10, the day the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers, took effect. However, collective bargaining did not proceed. The Metal Workers' Union then applied for dispute mediation, and the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission decided to halt mediation that day.