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CJ CheilJedang food company revealed on Wednesday, Nov. 16, that it had rebranded its line of porridge meals. The food manufacturing unit of the CJ Group said the goal for this move is to strengthen its image as a leader in the rice-based food products market.
CJ CheilJedang Corp. said that its porridge line, which was known as Bibigo Jook, will now be sold as Hetbahn Soft Meal. The company also has its ready-to-eat microwaveable rice called CJ Hetbahn, and the porridge was apparently named after this brand.
According to The Korea Economic Daily, the company is also planning to introduce a new line of food products and, this time, will launch a Drinkable Meal. This was described as a new line meal replacement that is cereal-based. This will be sold under the Hetbahn Soft Meal brand as well.
“Hetbahn Soft Meal is a line of products that focuses on the inherent value of rice,” an employee at CJ CheilJedang said in a statement. “We are the only food company that uses internally developed polishing technology to realize the optimal texture of rice for porridge.”
Meanwhile, as CJ CheilJedang is preparing to release new brands and products, it is also reportedly struggling with its very first workers' strike. The employees staged a walkout in one of the company’s production plants, and this was confirmed by corporate officials late last week.
This strike which started last Thursday, Nov. 10, is said to be the first in the company’s 70-year history. It involves union members of CJ CheilJedang's Blossom Campus in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province.
They are on strike after a failed negotiation on the removal of a blanket wage system and payment of workers’ bonuses of 16.6% based on annual salary per year. In the said blanket wage system, workers are paid monthly salaries that already include holiday work allowances, overtime pay, and night shift.
The union has not yet called for a full strike, and currently, the employees at different departments are taking turns in the protest. It was also noted that despite the strike, the production plants of CJ CheilJedang remained in full operation. Finally, the recently failed negotiation was already the union's 11th round with the management since June.
