Hanwha Ocean supervisors demand end to 38-day Geoje sit-in

About 430 frontline shipyard supervisors at Hanwha Ocean demanded Nov. 6 that subcontract workers end a 38-day aerial sit-in at its Geoje yard, warning production disruptions threaten vessel delivery schedules.

The high-altitude protest involves four subcontract workers perched atop a pre-erection painting shop roof and an assembly crane since Sept. 30. The workers are demanding direct collective bargaining with the shipbuilder.

The Hanwha Ocean Supervisors Council held a rally inside the yard to condemn the demonstration. The council represents roughly 430 production foremen and managers overseeing fabrication at the South Gyeongsang Province facility.

The council warned that prolonged fabrication bottlenecks hand commercial advantages to rival yards in China and Japan. Strict adherence to construction schedules is critical to maintain global shipowner confidence, the supervisors said.

The occupied structures control crucial early-stage assembly steps. Protesters hold positions on the roof of a pre-erection painting shop and a crane at a system scaffolding assembly facility.

Both facilities process hull sections before workers transfer blocks to dry docks. Disruptions at the pre-erection stage delay the movement of steel structures, slowing erection cycles across the yard, line managers said.

The confrontation revives memory of a 51-day dock occupation at Geoje in 2022 under previous owner Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. That strike caused an estimated 800 billion won ($578 million) in production losses.

The supervisor council said Hanwha Ocean made extensive financial concessions to stabilize labor relations after acquiring the yard in 2023. The company unconditionally dropped a 47 billion won ($34 million) damages lawsuit against subcontract union leaders last year.

Hanwha Ocean also disbursed 89 billion won ($64 million) in performance incentives to roughly 10,000 contractor personnel early this year. The payout matched the profit-sharing bonus ratio awarded to in-house regular shipyard employees, the council said.

Returning to illegal occupations after receiving company concessions betrays workplace solidarity, the council said. The supervisors urged senior management to end compromise and apply zero-tolerance legal measures against unauthorized facility takeovers.

The demonstrating workers belong to the Korean Metal Workers Union Geoje, Tongyeong and Goseong Shipbuilding Subcontract Workers Branch. The union represents roughly 170 subcontract employees working for supplier firms inside the yard.

Union leadership argues that amendments to the Trade Union Act grant subcontract workers the right to negotiate directly with the yard operator. The union submitted 36 collective demands covering base wage parity, bonus rules and union facilities.

Hanwha Ocean agreed to sit for negotiations but insisted the bargaining scope remain limited, company officials said. The Central Labor Relations Commission ruled that direct principal negotiations apply only to six occupational safety and facility issues.

Management and union delegates have held five formal bargaining rounds since Oct. 8 without bridging differences. The parties remain deadlocked over whether base wages and employment succession fall under the shipbuilder's legal bargaining obligations.

Two union representatives ended their crane protest on Oct. 8 to attend initial negotiation sessions. Four other union members stayed on the crane and factory roof to maintain leverage over management, union officials said.

Legal challenges preceding the talks deepened procedural friction. The Seoul Administrative Court rejected on Oct. 1 Hanwha Ocean's injunction request against the labor commission's bargaining order, prompting the shipyard to begin scheduled talks.

The labor standoff comes as South Korean shipbuilders operate at peak capacity. Hanwha Ocean held an order backlog of $36.22 billion covering 165 vessels and offshore platforms at the end of September.

High-margin liquefied natural gas carriers make up the core of that backlog. The Geoje yard holds contracts for 55 LNG carriers valued at $14.05 billion, with delivery berths committed through 2028.

Naval shipbuilding schedules also run through the Geoje yard. The facility handles construction for the South Korean Navy's KDX-III Batch-II destroyers and Dosan Ahn Chang-ho-class submarines, where security and project milestones are tightly enforced.

Commercial shipbuilding contracts include heavy liquidated damage penalties for delayed handover dates. Milestone slippage on individual blocks compresses drydock schedules downstream, raising production costs across the entire series, yard planners said.

Subcontract labor provides more than 70% of the production workforce across major South Korean shipyards. Interruptions within specialized contractor teams directly affect structural welding, block transportation and pre-erection surface coating.

Emergency medical responders and fire trucks have remained stationed beside the occupied crane for more than five weeks. The prolonged standby has drawn complaints from local civic groups over strained emergency services in Geoje.

Negotiators from Hanwha Ocean and the subcontract union are scheduled to hold their sixth formal bargaining round on Nov. 12. Management maintains that discussions will address only approved workplace safety and health provisions.

Hanwha Ocean has not published an official regulatory disclosure or quantified the specific vessel delays and liquidated damages resulting from the current aerial action.

Regional police forces maintain surveillance around the western gates of the Geoje shipyard while company security monitors the scaffolding facility.