Ssangyong Motor offers to save 40 pct of fired workers

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- Financially troubled Ssangyong Motor
Co., relenting itself, has offered to save several hundred laid-off workers, but
unionists were unresponsive, company officials said Saturday.
Some 900 laid-off Ssangyong workers remain holed up in the plant's painting shop
since May 22, protesting the company's action against them. The mass layoffs were
part of a restructuring plan ordered by a bankruptcy court.
"So far, the union hasn't responded to the proposal," Choi Sang-jin, a Ssangyong
executive in charge of finance and planning, said, explaining about the company's
latest proposal to end the 72-day-long labor dispute.
Choi said the plan calls for saving 40 percent of the laid-off workers by giving
them unpaid long-term leave of absence. Company officials said they expected the
protesters to counter-propose that the same treatment be given to all.
Ssangyong, the smallest carmaker in South Korea, received bankruptcy protection
in exchange for implementing a turnaround plan calling for 36 percent of its
workforce, or 2,646 employees, to be cut.
Since then, some 1,670 workers have left the company through voluntary retirement
plans, while the remaining 976 workers have been on strike.
This week, representatives of Ssangyong and the fired workers have met six times
to try to end the standoff. It's the first time that Ssangyong management has
presented a specific proposal to end the dispute.
Early last month, thousands of riot police moved into the factory in the city of
Pyeongtaek, about 70km south of Seoul, and cornered protesters, who fought back
by shooting bolts and nuts from large slingshots.
Police sprayed liquid tear gas from helicopters, but were reluctant to raid the
paint shop filled with flammable materials. Scores of protesters and police were
injured in sporadic clashes.
Court-appointed representatives and government officials have warned that the
ailing carmaker may become insolvent if the strike prolongs.
Ssangyong has until Sept. 15 to submit its final turnaround program to its
creditors and a bankruptcy judge.
The standoff darkened prospects of Ssangyong's survival, with the company saying
that it has so far cost about 300 billion won (US$244 million) in lost
production.
In the first six months of this year, Ssangyong's sales plunged 73.9 percent from
the same period last year to 13,020 units.
Ssangyong is still 51-percent owned by China's Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corp., but the Chinese parent lost management control after Ssangyong entered
bankruptcy protection.
(END)