한진해운, 미국서 정리해고 시작
Hanjin begins layoffs in Paramus
Bankrupt Hanjin Shipping Co. of South Korea has begun laying off its U.S. workers and is expected to close its offices in Paramus, where it employs more than 100 people, a company official said Monday.
Hanjin laid off 180 employees on Friday throughout the country, said Michael Radak, senior vice president and regional executive at Hanjin's U.S. headquarters on Route 4. Radak said the cuts included a number in Paramus, which took effect at the end of the workday on Friday, but he declined to say how many.
According to four of the laid off workers who met Monday at the Suburban Diner in Paramus to commiserate on their shared loss, the number was more than 30, and they said they expect the remaining workers in Paramus to be terminated by the end of the month.
They said they have been notified that Mass Mutual will end Hanjin employees 401(k) program on Oct. 31. On Friday, they said they received instructions on how to move their funds, and how to apply to the state for unemployment benefits.
Although Radak could not rule out the possibility of the Paramus headquarters and regional sales offices there shutting down this month, he said, "there are no plans to close" those offices end the end of October. "Eventually the entire company is going to close."
Radak had told The Record on Sept. 22 that no layoffs were planned in Paramus, where about 150 people were employed at that time. "The bankruptcy court is in control," Radak said Monday.
The four laid off workers said they knew since Hanjin's Sep. 1 bankruptcy filing that their jobs were at risk. When the ax fell last week, they received only one day's notice, no severance pay, and, just as abruptly, their health insurance benefits were terminated.
All four asked that their names not be published for fear of retaliation from Hanjin, which as of Monday still owed them for unused vacation days. "It's a complete lack of respect for their employees," one of the employees said.
Asked about the lack of severance pay, Radak said, "I feel bad about that, but that's why they call it bankruptcy. There is no money for that."
According to Radak, five Hanjin container ships in North and Central American waters have been "arrested" offshore to enforce creditors' liens. Two are off of Panama, two are in Canadian waters and one is off of Wilmington, N. C., Radak said.
The company reportedly had to come up with about $1 million last month to get the Hanjin Miami, a large container ship, unloaded after it was stranded offshore of New York Harbor for more than two weeks. The ship had been barred from berthing at Maher Terminals LLC in Elizabeth because of Hanjin's credit problems.
Hanjin said in its bankruptcy filing that it ran into trouble with debt and liquidity because of challenges dating to the 2008 global financial crisis, which cut demand for ocean freight shipments as did a subsequent economic downturn in Europe and a slowdown in China. On Aug. 30, the Korean Development Bank and other cooperating lenders cut off a deferred payment arrangement, precipitating the filing.
Maher Terminals was one of 14 U.S creditors from whom Hanjin sought provisional relief in a Chapter 15 filing in U.S. bankruptcy court in Newark, an action related to the main filing in Seoul.
Email: newman@northjersey.com