About 1,000 temporary workers at GM Daewoo face layoffs, union says

GOYANG, South Korea, April 3 (Yonhap) -- About 1,000 temporary workers at GM
Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. were on the verge of losing their jobs this month as
the financially troubled company extended plant shutdowns due to weakening
demand, union officials said Friday.

GM Daewoo, the South Korean unit of General Motors Corp., has intermittently
suspended production since December last year as sales have collapsed. This
month, GM Daewoo plans to cease production at its main plant in the city of
Bupyeong, near Seoul, for 13 days, according to the GM Daewoo union.
"If GM Daewoo completes idling the Bupyeong plant this month, about 1,000
temporary workers will be laid off en masse," said an official at the union.
"Layoff is murder, stop axing temporary workers!" the union official shouted at a
rally outside the 2009 Seoul Motor Show.
Scores of temporary workers from GM Daewoo and other carmakers staged the
demonstration. They typically had jobs under two-year contracts.
Police blocked the workers off when they tried to enter the exhibition where the
auto show was underway, leading to a scuffle. No serious injuries were reported.
Since GM Daewoo started idling production lines on Dec. 1 last year, 115
temporary workers have been forced to leave the company, said Kim Hyung-woo, an
official at the Korean Metal Workers' Union, an umbrella labor union of the auto
industry.
"GM Daewoo's chief executive, Michael Grimaldi, should return his pay before
laying off temporary workers," Kim said during the rally.
Officials at GM Daewoo's public relations team were not immediately available for
comment. Grimaldi warned on Thursday the company's financial situation had
slipped to a "critical" level this quarter.
"As we get into the second quarter, our cashflow becomes critical, we are
monitoring our cash position very closely," the CEO told reporters on the
sidelines of the auto show.
GM Daewoo has been in talks with South Korea's state-run Korea Development Bank
to get one trillion won (US$747.4 million) in financial help. So far, the South
Korean bank has shown little interest.
Nick Riley, chief of GM's operations in the Asia-Pacific region, met with the
bank officials late last month, but they rejected the request citing uncertainty
over the automaker's fate.
Grimaldi said GM Daewoo was also considering selling assets to raise funds.
The company's sales plunged 48.5 percent to 44,957 units last month. Domestic
sales dropped 44.6 percent to 5,708 units and exports dived 49 percent to 39,249
units.
(END)