Due to the recent boycott movement, the company’s sales dropped precipitously, and it decided to dismiss twenty workers including temporary employees and employees from outside contractors who worked at the factories. (image credit: Kobiz Media)
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) – Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which has been boycotted by many Korean consumers for selling toxic humidifier sterilizers, has dismissed most of its employees at production facilities, blaming financial difficulties.
Enraged workers claim that they lost their jobs overnight through no fault of their own.
Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which operates under British parent company Reckitt Benckiser, has its head office in Seoul and two directly managed production factories in Iksan.
Besides original equipment manufacturer (OEM) type factories, Oxy’s production factory is the only factory under the company’s direct management in Korea.
Due to the recent boycott movement, the company’s sales dropped precipitously, and it decided to dismiss twenty workers including temporary employees and employees from outside contractors who worked at the factories.
One of the dismissed employees, who joined the company last year on a two-year contract, said he still has a year left on his contract. “Management only says that the decision has been made due to financial difficulties the company is facing,” he said. “I was expecting this to happen when the investigation into toxic humidifier sterilizers began, but I didn’t think it would happen so soon. Employees are burdened with aftermath of the company’s wrongdoing,” he added.
Oxy management has decided to pay one month’s wage as severance for employees who are still under contract.
The toxic humidifier sterilizers which were identified as the cause of fatalities in Korea were produced at a chemical plant in Gyeonggi Province. Two production factories in Iksan produced other popular Oxy products such as Oxy Clean, Water Eating Hippo, and Power Clean.
By Nonnie Kim (nkim@koreabizwire.com)
