Ssangyong Motor to resume output Thursday as protest ends

SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea's smallest automaker,
said Wednesday that it will resume operations Thursday as it restored car-making
equipment partly damaged by workers forced to end their months-long occupation
of its plant.

Hundreds of unionized workers occupied the automaker's plant in Pyeongtaek, about
70km south of Seoul, for 77 days to protest massive lay-offs, battling riot
police with firebombs and steel pipes. Last Thursday, they agreed to end their
occupation after a massive police raid.
"Equipment damage is not worse than expected, and we will be able to resume
operations tomorrow," said Choe Sang-jin, Ssangyong Motor vice president.
Ssangyong Motor, which is under bankruptcy protection, expects to produce 2,600
units this month, and to make around 4,000 units per month from September.
Unionists took over the factory in late May demanding Ssangyong scrap a plan to
fire 36 percent of its workforce.
In the first six months of this year, sales by Ssangyong, which has an annual
production capacity of 200,000 units, plunged 73.9 percent from the same period
last year to 13,020 units. The months-long strike also cost the carmaker 316
billion won in lost production.
The automaker's sales plunged 99 percent to 71 vehicles last month, making it
more difficult to come out of bankruptcy.
SAIC Motor Corp., China's biggest domestic automaker, lost management control
when Ssangyong entered receivership in February. A bankruptcy court gave the
South Korean company until Sept. 15 to submit a turnaround plan.
sam@yna.co.kr
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