Ssangyong Motor workers begin general strike over job cuts

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, May 21 (Yonhap) -- Unionized workers at Ssangyong Motor
Co., South Korea's smallest automaker, said Thursday they have started a general
strike in protest against the company's massive job-cut plan.
Ssangyong, which has been under bankruptcy protection since February, became the
nation's first big corporate casualty of the global economic slump, which
dampened demand for new cars.
To stay alive, Ssangyong said it will cut 2,646 jobs, or 36 percent of its total
workforce.
Early this month, a local bankruptcy court said Ssangyong was worth saving rather
than liquidating, but warned it could still liquidate the ailing carmaker if it
fails to make the job cuts as promised.
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