Hanjin Dumps Half of Workers
The bankrupting container operator Hanjin Shipping Co. is shedding half of its ground workforce and may ax equally that many of the crew on deck as the bankruptcy court is out to sell most of ground and sea assets, according to the Pulse.
Hanjin Shipping under court-led reorganization cuts 350 land-based employees in South Korea, aiming to restructure the business and improve survive.
The shipper, which applied for court receivership in late August after creditor banks withdrew their support, has about 650 land-based employees in South Korea, which will be reduced by more than 50%.
It may not issue redundancy notice to remaining 300 workers who are involved in the Far East-North American route which the court hopes to sell.
The shipper’s chief executive Seok Tae-soo will start discussing layoff outline with unionized mariners. Hanjin has over 720 workers on board.
Under the local labor law, the management can start layoffs 20 days after it began talks with the union. Hanjin Shipping workers would be losing jobs from early next month.
The company plans to complete streamlining by early December. But the union won’t likely go easily as workers have been protesting against layoffs ahead of sales of the assets.
