(2nd LD) Ssangyong Motor workers reject final offer to end strike

(ATTN: ADDS scuffle scene, latest injury toll in paras 15-19)
By Kim Deok-hyun
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, June 26 (Yonhap) -- A final proposal by troubled
Ssangyong Motor Co. for its workers to end a month-long strike was met with an
immediate refusal by the union Friday, further complicating the company's efforts
for survival.
About 1,200 workers at Ssangyong, currently under bankruptcy protection, have
occupied the company's only assembly plant in the port city of Pyeongtaek, about
70 km south of Seoul, since May 21 to protest a massive job-cut plan.
Earlier in the day, two court-appointed managers supervising Ssangyong's
bankruptcy proceedings said the company would offer severance packages to 450 out
of some 1,000 workers to be laid off. They also promised to rehire them once the
company turns itself around.
The striking workers said, however, that they would continue the strike "without
surrender until the management scraps the workforce restructuring plan."
"The only way for our survival is a do-or-die battle," said Song Young-seop, one
of the representatives with the Ssangyong union.
Lee Chang-keun, a spokesman for the Ssangyong union, said, "We will not end our
strike unless the management withdraws the restructuring plan."
"The company's proposal did nothing but say that it would proceed with the
restructuring plan," the spokesman said.
"Layoffs are murder," chanted striking workers standing on top of shipping
containers that blocked the Pyeongtaek plant's main gate.
Pounded by plunging sales and mounting debt, Ssangyong was abandoned by its
Chinese parent Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and forced to file for
bankruptcy protection in January this year.
A month later, a local court accepted Ssangyong's filing, giving the loss-making
carmaker a second chance in return for a promise by Ssangyong that it would cut
36 percent of its workforce, or 2,646 employees, as part of restructuring
efforts.
Since then, some 1,670 workers have left the company through voluntary retirement
plans while the remaining 976 workers have gone on strike.
Lee Yoo-il, one of the two court-appointed managers at Ssangyong, warned that
Ssangyong may be liquidated unless the workers accept the final offer and end
their strike.
"If they refuse, I won't step back," Lee told reporters in front of the
Pyeongtaek plant's main gate, about an hour before union officials were to hold a
press conference. "The union would not want to see the company's insolvency."
Ssangyong, the smallest automaker in South Korea, said the strike has cost 140
billion won (US$108 million) in lost revenues.
Meanwhile, striking workers scuffled with hundreds of Ssangyong employees whose
jobs at the company were spared as they tried to storm the plant, leaving some 10
workers injured. Three who apparently suffered serious injuries were sent to a
nearby hospital while union officials say the number may grow.
The confrontation has been brewing for weeks as the strike threatened the
survival of the carmaker.
In what some watchers described as a tragic scene, striking workers wielding
steel pipes and fire extinguishers as they fought with unarmed colleagues.
"No violence! No strike!" shouted the Ssangyong workers as they tussled with the
striking colleagues.
Some 20,000 riot police with helmets and plastic shields were deployed to the
area, warning that they would step in if bloody clashes occur.
In the first three months of this year, Ssangyong posted its sixth straight
quarterly net loss.
The company posted a net loss of 265 billion won ($205.9 million) in the first
quarter, compared with a loss of 34 billion won for the same period last year.
First-quarter sales plunged 66 percent from a year ago to 234 billion won.
(END)