Ssangyong Motor workers vote on strike over job cuts

SEOUL, April 13 (Yonhap) -- Thousands of unionized workers at troubled Ssangyong
Motor Co. started voting Monday on a strike action in protest of massive layoffs,
union officials said.

The South Korean automaker, under bankruptcy protection and 51-percent owned by
China's top automaker, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), said last week
it would slash 2,646 jobs or 37 percent of its total workforce to prove its
viability.
The Ssangyong union, which has some 5,100 members out of the company's
7,100-strong workforce, has accused SAIC of abandoning the company as the market
turned sour and stealing its technology.
If endorsed, the strike action would be the latest blow against Ssangyong's bid
to turn itself around.
"If the strike action is approved, we will immediately launch an all-out strike,"
a union official said. Balloting was due to close on Tuesday, according to the
union official.
Ssangyong became the first big corporate casualty in South Korea as the global
economic crisis dampened demand. The country's smallest automaker, with an annual
production capacity of 200,000 vehicles, posted a net loss of 709.7 billion won
(US$528.5 million) in 2008 on sales of 2.5 trillion won, down 20 percent from a
year earlier.
In the first three months of this year, Ssangyong's vehicle sales nosedived 76
percent to 6,471 units.
On May 22, a bankruptcy judge from the Seoul Central District Court will meet
with Ssanyong's creditors and debt holders to decide on the viability of the
automaker. If the company's turnaround plan is deemed inviable, it will be
liquidated.
(END)