Vol. 73/No. 32      August 24, 2009

The strike occupation followed the company’s announcement in April that it would dismiss 2,646 workers out of its 7,350-person workforce. Some 1,670 of these were forced into “voluntary retirement,” while others were permanently laid off.

Workers took over the company’s plant in Pyeongtaek, some 45 miles from Seoul, May 22 to demand the workers be retained by spreading the available work.

The strike ended in a settlement in which 48 percent of the strikers will either be transferred to sales positions, or be placed on unpaid leave for one year. The other half will be forced into “voluntary” resignation or transferred to other companies. Those furloughed or permanently laid off will receive an additional two months’ retirement allowance.

Whether the company will still exist in one year, however, is uncertain. Ssangyong, South Korea’s smallest car manufacturer, was hit hard in the last year by the worldwide contraction of the auto market and has been in bankruptcy protection since January.

Two weeks into the strike the government issued arrest warrants for 10 of the leaders of the Ssangyong branch of the Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) on charges of leading illegal protests. In mid-June the company launched a two-week effort to forcibly break the strike with thousands of scabs.

For weeks the government resisted calls by the company to send a police force to break the strike for fear of sparking a broader working-class response. Six people were killed in January when the government deployed commandos to oust a plant occupation in Seoul.

In mid-July the company began blocking food, water, and medicine from reaching the strikers. On July 20, the company completely cut off water to the factory and a force of about 100 commandos and 2,000-3,000 riot cops moved in, employing Taser guns and liquid tear gas. The striking workers, numbering about 800 at that time, held their ground and fought back with Molotov cocktails and slingshots.

A couple days later gas supply to the factory used for cooking was cut off.

Thousands of workers responded to the July 20 company and government attack with mass actions in support of the strike and marched to the factory. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) organized a solidarity strike that also protested the growing use of temporary workers, who comprise 33 percent of the national workforce, have the lowest wages, fewer benefits, and no job security.

In another attack August 4 helicopters dropped commandos and more tear gas on the plant where about 500 workers remained, causing chemical burns. Company thugs dispersed the solidarity encampment outside the factory and arrested the KMWU vice president.

After two days of siege and rooftop battles in which more than 50 cops and 150 workers were injured, the strikers agreed to settle with the company, agreeing that Ssangyong would keep 48 percent of the strikers. They had previously rejected the company’s offer to keep 40 percent of the strikers.

“I am sorry that we could not get a better deal, but I am proud that we fought hard,” striker Moon Jae-myong told the New York Times. “The more the company squeezed our human rights, the more resolved those who remained became,” Ham Bong-duek explained.

The company said it would work to lighten the sentences of the strikers and drop civil suits against the union—if its plans for revival are approved in bankruptcy court. Ninety-six strikers were jailed immediately following the end of the strike.

“The forthcoming revival process of Ssangyong Motors may entail more confrontation,” a statement from the KCTU said. “The KCTU will not stop its struggles against anti-labor policies of the Lee Myong Bak government, and will not stand by complacently should Ssangyong Motors continue its union-bashing practices as shown during the recent crisis.”

In 2006 Ssangyong workers occupied the plant for nearly two months against a much smaller wave of layoffs.

The company’s South Korean bosses have successfully deflected much of the blame for the company’s failure on its majority Chinese ownership. In December workers held some of its Chinese executives hostage for seven hours, accusing them of stealing the company’s technology.

Since May, domestic car sales in South Korea have been buoyed by large government tax breaks for consumers to replace older cars with new ones. The plan seems to have boosted all but Ssangyong, whose sales have fallen through the floor amid the strike. The company exported only 20 cars in June.

The government tax break is contingent on the countries’ five auto companies’ ability to “restructure” their workforce to be more competitive and profitable. Now government officials are calling to end the tax incentives earlier than planned as automakers have failed to make progress against the unions and “restructure.”
 
 
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