Popular Korean actress Kim Yoh-jin was among the activists recently detained for supporting the union's strike, including crane striker Kim Jin-suk. Hanjin is shifting production to non-union and Philippine labor.
A six-month strike at a South Korean shipyard has ended, the company said Monday, but a female labour activist had not yet abandoned a solo protest atop a 35-metre (115-foot) crane.
The stoppage began on December 20 at the yard owned by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction in the southern port city of Busan, after the company announced plans to cut 400 jobs through an early retirement package.
Activist Kim Jin-Suk, who began her crane protest on January 6 to support the strikers, was however still there on Monday afternoon, management and union officials said.
Hanjin has reduced its workforce in Busan since it opened a shipyard in the northern Philippine port of Subic Bay. It now has about 700 unionised workers, 700 non-union workers and 1,500 people working on temporary contracts at Busan.