Contract workers on strike at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering have reportedly said they will end their strike if the shipbuilder drops any legal action against them.
The workers have also agreed to accept a 4.5% wage increase offered by DSME, a union official representing the strikers told Reuters on Thursday.
“Strikers expressed their intention to accept the 4.5% wage hike offer if the issue regarding damage compensation lawsuits is resolved,” Jang Seok-won, director of public relations at the Korea Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) told the news agency.
Damage compensation demanded by DSME for losses due to the strike has emerged as a key sticking point, according to the union.
The strike, which has so far cost the yard more than KRW 660bn ($504m), has already delayed the delivery of 12 vessels, the yard told a local news agency.
Contract workers had reportedly been asking for a 30% rise, which was later reduced to 15%, according to media reports.
Some 100 subcontractors have been occupying one drydock since 22 June 2022, reportedly halting construction on a VLCC.
Yonhap News Agency reported that the talks had entered a crucial phase on Friday, as labour and management struggled to reach a last-minute deal before the shipyard's two-week summer holiday begins this weekend.
Police are said to be making preparations for a possible deployment to disband the striking workers if the labour-management negotiations eventually fall through, Yonhap reported.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has urged the contract shipyard workers to end the strike, which the government has said violates South Korea’s union laws.
“Illegal actions should be resolved swiftly and normalised … for everyone’s good,” Yoon told reporters in Seoul.
DSME registered a net loss of KRW 470bn in the first three months of 2022, which was attributed to increasing prices for steel plates and other shipbuilding materials.
