|
On the morning of September 17th, it was reported that part of the subcontracted labor workers were holding a rally in front of Dayang Shipyard to claim for their unpaid wages. In reality, all workers’ wages for the past months had already been paid in full, while those due for August, were delayed for a few days without advance notice, due to the Group’s recent equity restructuring and adjustments of inner management procedures. Some workers had the foregoing behaviors after taking rumors as truth that the company was unable to pay their wages. After full communication with the Group’s senior management on site, the real situation was clarified and the rally was quickly dispersed. Wages due were paid in full the following day. Traditionally, the agreements between Dayang and the labor service companies cover the settlement of payments on a two monthly basis; the wages of subcontracted labor workers are then paid by their direct employer, under supervision of both the labor service company and Dayang. However, as a socially responsible company and with a view to protecting the benefits of the workers, in August 2013, a local labor management model was adopted by SINOPACIFIC under which workers’ wages are paid directly and fully by Dayang via bank transfer to their individual accounts each month. This policy, which aims to guarantee the legal rights of workers, has been in place for over 2 years. This recent incident has raised the company’s awareness that in the current context of the shipbuilding industry, whereby growth is sluggish, there is a general concern among labor service companies and workers that wages cannot be paid as scheduled. Therefore, going forward, the company shall ensure that communication with its workforce is reinforced and that payments of workers’ wages are always carried out timely to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. The recent years have witnessed a sustained slump in the ship building industry and SINOPACIFIC has been retaining a leading position in various market segments, through its Crown brand of bulk carriers and SP brand for OSVs, with plans to extend business to new market sectors. In the first half of 2015, SINOPACIFIC has delivered 17 vessels in total and achieved an output value of RMB 3.254 billion. At the end of June, the company holds an order book of 84 vessels and plans to deliver 45 vessels in total this year. The total output value for 2015 will be 15% higher than the previous year. Sinopacific Ship Building Group press release |
