Six subcontractor union members spent a second day on crane structures inside Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard on Wednesday, escalating a fight over whether the shipbuilder must bargain directly with workers hired through lower-tier firms under South Korea’s revised trade union law.
The protest began around midday on Tuesday, when members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union’s Geoje–Tongyeong–Goseong subcontracting branch climbed a roof at a pre-painting plant and a crane at a system-scaffold assembly area, union officials said. They are demanding that Hanwha Ocean sit at the table for prime-contractor negotiations rather than routing talks only through subcontractors.
Yellow Envelope Law and a split over who counts as the employer
The dispute tracks the March enforcement of amendments widely called the “Yellow Envelope Law,” which expanded pathways for subcontractor unions to seek bargaining with prime contractors. Hanwha Ocean has posted the legally required notice that it will negotiate with the subcontracting branch, but it excluded the Welliv branch, which represents cafeteria and facilities workers.
Labor regulators have treated Welliv workers as Hanwha Ocean employees for bargaining purposes, a finding the company is challenging in court with a request to suspend the order. Until that ruling lands, the subcontracting branch is insisting on joint negotiations that include Welliv—a position Hanwha Ocean rejects.
Company draws a line on the crane standoff
In a statement on Wednesday, Hanwha Ocean said it remains willing to bargain separately with the subcontracting union if Welliv is not in the room. It described the crane occupation as an “illegal occupation” that falls outside legitimate industrial action, citing safety risks at active production sites.
The union countered at a gate-side news conference that management’s refusal to honor prime-contractor bargaining drove workers onto the cranes. It blamed the company and the employment ministry for leaving subcontractor claims unresolved for more than 200 days.
Production and politics on the peninsula’s busiest yards
Geoje is one of Korea’s largest shipbuilding clusters, and Hanwha Ocean’s order book has been central to the country’s defense and commercial export push. Any prolonged stoppage at crane lines would ripple through hull schedules, though the company has not quantified output loss from the six-person protest.
Union leaders have not set a deadline to descend but warned of “strong struggle” if bargaining remains blocked. Mediators at the regional labor relations commission have not scheduled a new session, leaving the crane standoff as the most visible flashpoint in Korea’s first major Yellow Envelope tests at a top-tier shipyard.