A Church group yesterday urged President Benigno Aquino to look into what it calls serious flouting of safety laws  by a Korean multinational and which it says  has resulted in at least 26 deaths.

The Church-Labor Conference, an alliance of labor and religious organizations says the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Corp shipyard based in Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales province has become a potential death trap for workers.

The group co-chaired by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, staged a rally at the Mendiola bridge in Manila yesterday to demand a probe into the firm.

“The Hanjin shipyard is a graveyard. Capitalists are denying workers protection and the government is sleeping on the job by not enforcing safety laws,” the group said in a statement.

“Workers are dying in the workplace. Hanjin’s crooked ways must be set straight by PNoy [Aquino],” it said.

The group called for stronger enforcement of existing laws and labor inspection reforms to address what they say has been at least 26 deaths at the Hanjin shipyard.

“Accidents are not acts of divine providence that can be dismissed as unavoidable. Instead accidents are the result of unsafe practices and are therefore preventable by strict enforcement of occupational safety, health and labor standards,” the statement said.

The group also demanded an end to what they say is rampant sub-contracting by the firm.

“We support our brothers in Hanjin who have the same grievances as Philippine Airlines employees, which is sub-contracting and union busting,” said Gerry Rivera, president of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association, which is part of the Church-Labor Conference.

“Construction workers are among the most overworked and underpaid employees working at the yard,” he added.

Around 21,000 people work in the shipyard but the firm claims only a few hundred employees since 19 subcontractors hire most of the workers.