BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS
The Korean Metal Workers' Union in south Korea warned on
August 13 it would call a full-scale strike if south Korean
police staged a raid on workers of the Hyundai Motor Co. who
have been striking for several weeks in the southern city of
Ulsan. Up to 5,000 workers and their families have set up tents
and have been occupying five Hyundai auto assembly plants in
Ulsan since July 20 to protest layoffs.
Tens of thousands of union members have staged rallies outside the factories to support the workers who have taken them over. About 2,600 cops have ringed the plants and on August 13 thousands of additional riot police assembled around them, threatening a raid to oust the workers. Police forces had grown to 15,000 cops five days later, with water cannon and tear gas.
An earlier attempt by company managers to restart production in one of these five factories that produces the popular Atoz compact car was aborted quickly, as workers "threatened to kill" the managers, according to a company spokesman.
Officials of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, representing 600,000 workers at Hyundai and other heavy industries, stated August 18 they would "immediately launch continued nationwide demonstrations in a comprehensive anti- government struggle" if Seoul ordered a police assault.
Unionists at Hyundai went on strike in late May after the company announced it would lay off 4,800 workers, 18 percent of its workforce, because of a 50 percent drop in domestic car sales.
Workers are demanding the company reduce the workweek and retain all employees instead. Hyundai negotiators broke off talks August 12 as the union held steadfast by this demand.
The confrontation is indicative of the sharpening class polarization in south Korea, as depression conditions there have worsened steadily since the steep devaluation of the country's currency last December. Unemployment, now at 7 percent, rose at an average of 2,000 people per day in the first half of the year. It has recently accelerated to nearly 8,000 people laid off per day.