Purmil decides to maintain business after compromise with labor union

Purmil [YONHAP]

Dairy company Purmil will maintain its business by cutting 30 percent of its current employees, according to the company on Thursday.

The company withdrew its plan to close business and lay off all workers 24 days after announcing that it will close its business on Nov. 30.

The final decision was made after Purmil CEO Shin Dong-hwan sat down with the company's labor union three times to reach an agreement.

On Oct. 17, the dairy company said it would close its business and sent a company-wide email to its approximately 350 employees informing them that they would be let go.

After the announcement was made, some 100 employees gathered in front of the headquarters of the dairy company to protest against the company’s decision.

Purmil, which stood at No. 10 in the domestic dairy industry in terms of market share in 2020, was known for its popular products such as "Milk with Black Soybean" and "Ganachoco Milk." It recorded 179.9 billion won ($125.6 million) in sales last year with an operating loss of 12.3 billion won. Lotte Milk, established in 1978, was spun off from Lotte Ham & Milk in April 2007. The company then changed its name to Purmil in 2009 and has been seeing continued losses since 2018.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]