(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on July 29)

Fate of Ssangyong

Labor Minister Lee Young-hee said that the two-month-old strike at Ssangyong
Motor Co. in Pyeongtaek was a "fight against capital" rather than a workers'
struggle for survival. He observed that political ideology overshadowed the
unionists' prolonged protest, which could no longer be defined purely as a labor
movement.

The labor law scholar-turned minister may have simply expressed his academic view
out of deep frustration at being powerless to help resolve the dispute. But if
his remarks indicated the government's complete hands-off policy toward the worst
labor trouble in recent years, there will be huge disappointment among those who
eagerly await normalization of the automaker.
As we look at the situation, there are factors that make the labor relations at
Ssangyong particularly complicated. Since the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.
of China bought majority shares in the carmaker in 2005, there have been
occasional troubles over claims by some Korean staff that the Chinese executives
were more interested in acquiring technologies than making new investments.
When the Chinese owners filed for bankruptcy protection, their Korean employees
asserted that the SAIC, a Chinese government enterprise which operates over 50
car plants in the Shanghai area and overseas locations, had enough financial
resources to revive the automaker. They pointed to a poor market strategy -
Ssangyong's main items of luxury sedans and SUVs suffered a rapid fall in sales
in the face of high oil prices.
So, many wonder whether the trouble at Ssangyong Motor would still be as bad as
it is now if the carmaker, the fifth largest in Korea, was not Chinese-owned. Is
Ssangyong yet another example of Korea's notorious anti-foreign industrial
culture, they ask. The labor minister might have the same question in mind when
he called the situation a struggle against capital.
Since more than 600 workers who faced layoffs - having refused to accept
voluntary redundancy under a restructuring scheme - started the illegal strike at
the plant on May 22, some of the ugliest scenes in the labor dispute took place.
Violent clashes with riot police resulted in injuries on both sides and the
authorities have cut off water and gas supply and delivery of medicine and other
necessities.
If all involved in the Ssangyong trouble should admit that the company's Chinese
ownership has compounded the problem, they should make extra efforts - and
concessions - not to allow it to become a failed case of major foreign
investment. The continuing mess in the Ssangyong Motor compound should not be
taken as an excuse to allow its collapse, even though public sympathy is getting
thinner day after day.
Law and order is an important cause, but the police authorities need to ease
their restrictive measures that could cause serious human rights problems on the
part of the desperate workers holed up in the plant. The labor minister said
officials had worked on measures to provide new job opportunities for the
laid-off workers. He needs to be more specific about the possible job placements.

Before anything, unionists should abandon their rigid stand of "not a single
layoff." Already many of the parts suppliers to Ssangyong are going down along
with numerous dealerships and service facilities. The "departure, recovery and
return" pattern was famously established by GM Daewoo Co. years ago and Ssangyong
Motor Co. could be the next example.
(END)