Hyundai Motor's non-regular workers clash over employment conditions

ULSAN, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- The non-regular workers union at Hyundai Motor's Co.
clashed with management over employment conditions on Saturday, with one employee
trying to set himself afire.
Company and police sources said 550 workers who have blockaded themselves at the
company's main assembly line in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, since
Monday clashed with members of management who asked them to end the takeover.
"Vice President Kang Ho-dong tried to speak directly with workers and called for
an end to the illegal strike, but union leaders blocked his entry, resulting in
clashes and fights," a company source said.
The source said several non-regular workers were injured while others, who were
dragged out by company employees, were sent home. Kang was hospitalized
temporarily after being shoved on a stairway on his way to speak to workers.
The executive failed to deliver his message in person to the striking workers and
was only allowed to hand it to the union leaders because he made little headway.
Police also said 170 non-regular workers tried to enter another Hyundai assembly
line but were dispersed by management using fire hoses, while a 33-year-old
worker, identified only by his family name of Hwang, tried to set himself on fire
during a separate rally at the front gate of the carmaker's factory arranged by
the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
The worker was not seriously hurt, as medical personnel said his life was not in
jeopardy.
Hyundai, South Korea's largest carmaker, said the matter of giving non-regular
workers full employee status is being handled in court, so striking workers
should wait until the verdict is announced. It stressed that disrupting
production did not help the situation.
In response, the non-regular workers union demanded that discrimination in wages
and employment conditions must be stopped. It called on company managers to come
to the negotiation table if they wanted the situation to be settled in a peaceful
manner.
Many companies hire non-regular workers as a cost-cutting measure even if these
workers are effectively doing the same kind of jobs as regular workers. This has
stirred resentment among non-regular workers, who are working with the KCTU to
demand more rights.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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