|
Other workers want to storm facility to restore order, keep company alive
August 04, 2009
|
|
| As weekend negotiations between Ssangyong Motor and its union broke down, over 100 of the 600 sacked workers occupying the automaker’s car paint factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, left the scene. Tensions soon escalated as the automaker mobilized five forklifts at 11:40 a.m. yesterday to gain access to the factory, which has been occupied by laid-off workers for 74 days. The forklifts removed barricades near the factory and managed to secure adjacent roads. Workers used slingshots to shoot nuts and bolts and threw Molotov cocktails at the forklifts. A company official said the removal of barricades was “a part of efforts to resume car production,” adding the company “does not have plans” to force the factory to open. The majority of workers at the plant, however, urged the company to let them disperse the strikers. Over 2,000 non-striking workers at the Ssangyong plant held emergency meetings to discuss ways to resolve the issue. “Many are afraid that the company would actually go bankrupt,” a Ssangyong worker surnamed Park said. “Many of them said we need to do something if police do not storm the factory to force eviction.” The automaker has cut the power supply to the factory since Sunday afternoon. “It’s even difficult for workers to communicate with others because they can’t charge their cell phones anymore,” Wu Byeong-kuk, deputy head of Korean Metal Workers’ Union, was quoted in the Munhwa Ilbo as saying. After the collapse of the negotiations, police mobilized helicopters and shot liquid tear gas onto the roof of the factory, which they had refrained from doing when marathon negotiations were under way. The laid-off workers fought back with slingshots. National Police Commissioner General Kang Hee-rak said police will block non-striking workers if they try to retake the factory. “Police should take charge of getting into the factory,” Kang told reporters yesterday. “Police can get tips from the company about where flammables are located inside the factory, but other than that, everything must be led by police,” said Yun Jae-ok, a senior official of the police information department. Police have refrained from storming the factory because of the risk of fire. According to an official with the automaker, labor union leadership has heightened its level of monitoring co-workers to prevent mass defections. The official said the union leaders require workers to move in teams of three. If a worker needs to go to bathroom, then two workers should accompany him. When workers go to sleep, they have their hands tied so they cannot leave. Some people who managed to leave the factory received text messages threatening death from the union leaders, the official said. Union leadership denied the accusations, saying management was “playing with the media.” They said they have never stopped workers who voluntarily wanted to quit the strike. Some sacked workers who left the factory backed up the leadership. “People left the factory because they wanted to,” said a worker who left the factory on July 26. “I no longer have the will to fight,” another worker who quit the sit-in on Sunday said. “I’m not interested in the survival of the company anymore.” Meanwhile, a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said there’s not much the government can do. “The court needs to set the direction of the [fate of the automaker] and creditors and others involved need to solve this matter,” the official said. An official at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the future of Ssangyong Motor “grew gloomier” as the two sides failed to reach an agreement. “The government will craft measures to solve the Ssangyong issue after the court’s decision,” the official said. By Jang Joo-young, Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr] |
|
