Korean Kumho P&B management-union talks break down
23 August 2002 03:44 [Source: ICIS news]
SINGAPORE (CNI)—Talks between Kumho P&B management and unions have come to a grinding halt, with no end in sight to a strike that has forced the company to shut its 30 000 tonne/year No 1 phenol line at its plant in Yeochun, South Korea.
A company source told CNI on Friday that the gap between what the workers were demanding and what the management was willing to offer remained unbridgeable. The source said that the workers were demanding a big increment in their annual wages which the company was refusing.
About 200 of the company’s unionised workers have been on strike for almost a month now.
The strike has also forced Kumho to delay by two weeks to mid-September the startup of its 100 000 tonne/year bisphenol A (BPA) plant also at Yeochun. The source said mechanical completion of the new BPA plant was achieved at the end of June.
The company continues to operate a 100 000 tonne/year phenol line, a 90 000 tonne/year cumene plant and a 35 000 tonne/year BPA unit at the same site with the aid of its white-collar employees.
The company is a 50:50 joint venture between Nippon Steel and South Korea’s Kumho Petrochemicals.
By: Iqbal Anand
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