[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] While Doosan Group's management normalization plan to save Doosan Heavy Industries, which is struggling financially, is progressing smoothly, labor-management issues remain a painful challenge.
According to industry sources on the 1st, Doosan Group is accelerating the sale of affiliates and assets to secure liquidity exceeding 3 trillion won. First, Doosan Group signed a final contract for the sale of the golf course Club Mow CC with the Hana Financial-Moa Miraedo consortium and signed an MOU for the sale of Doosan Solus shares with the private equity firm Skylake Investment.
Through the sales of Club Mow CC and Doosan Solus, Doosan Group appears to have secured about 1 trillion won. This quickly dispelled initial industry concerns that the sales process would take considerable time due to market contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sales processes for affiliates and assets such as Doosan Construction, Doosan Motrol, Doosan Tower, and Neoplux are also underway. Additionally, Doosan Group selected Credit Suisse (CS) as the lead sales agent for Doosan Infracore, their 'cash cow,' in June. Besides securing liquidity through sales, Doosan Group plans to proceed with a paid-in capital increase and capital expansion worth about 1 trillion won.
While Doosan Group's liquidity securing is relatively smooth, the labor-management conflict at Doosan Heavy Industries remains a task to be resolved. The Doosan Heavy Industries labor union is opposing this year's management's implementation of voluntary retirement and work suspension. Earlier, on May 21, Doosan Heavy Industries notified 357 employees, including 111 office workers and 246 production workers, of a work suspension with 70% salary payment until the end of December.
Recently, the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission ruled in favor of the office workers' union in an unfair work suspension relief application filed by 27 office workers belonging to the Metal Workers' Union Gyeongnam Branch Doosan Heavy Industries Office Workers' Union. The relief application for unfair work suspension filed by about 200 production workers with the Gyeongnam Labor Commission is also expected to be concluded around mid-month.
Doosan Heavy Industries plans to review and respond once it receives the ruling from the Gyeongnam Labor Commission. If Doosan Heavy Industries does not accept the local labor commission's ruling, it can request a retrial at the Central Labor Commission. A Doosan Heavy Industries official stated, "We have not yet received the ruling from the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission. We will review whether to request a retrial at the Central Labor Commission as soon as we receive the ruling."
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