Ssangyong workers end strike

Striking workers at Ssangyong Motor Co. ended their 77-day strike yesterday after the management and union leaders reached an agreement over the layoff plans.

Ssangyong court receivership manager Park Young-tae and union leader Han Sang-kyun met yesterday and reached an agreement over the number of workers to be laid off, solving the main issue the two sides have disagreed over.

The talks were resumed after striking members of Ssangyong`s union approached the company, saying that the union had made important changes to its position on the company`s lay off plans.

The union made the move as riot police, after taking over Wednesday all the buildings surrounding the paint shop that the protesters had been occupying, were ready to move in.



The one-on-one talks between Park and Han, which began at noon in a makeshift conference room in a container placed between the Pyeongtaek plant`s main building and a painting facility, lasted one hour and 18 minutes, with the two sides reaching a general agreement about the company`s restructuring plans.

Less than two hours after Park and Han emerged from the converted container, workers holed up inside a painting facility voluntarily ended their strike.

The sit-in strike began on May 22 in protest of the company`s restructuring plans that would have seen 36 percent of its workers made redundant.

According to the company`s estimates, it has sustained 316 billion won ($258.6 million) damages and about 14,600 vehicles in lost production due to the strike.

Under the agreement reached yesterday, the company will retain 48 percent of the 640 workers who took part in the strike until the end. Those staying on with Ssangyong will be placed on unpaid leave for one year, after which they will be put to work according to the situation at that time.

The remaining 52 percent will be removed from the carmaker`s workforce. The company will also pay a 550,000 won monthly subsidy for one year to workers tranferred to sales positions.

Concerning the union`s demands for the company to drop various charges against the strikers, the company said that it would work to lighten the criminal charges and that it would drop the civil suits against them on condition that its revival plans are accepted by the court next month.

The company said in a statement that the facilities directly needed for producing cars have not been damaged and that production would be resumed within three weeks at the latest.

(cheesuk@heraldm.com)



By Choi He-suk