S. Korea’s Ssangyong Motor union start general strike

May 23, 2009 - 0:0

SEOUL (Xinhua) -- Unionized workers at Ssangyong Motor Co. decided to stage a general strike on Thursday in a bid to protest against the company’s scheduled massive layoffs, the union said.

“We decided to launch a full strike to fight against the management’s plan to push for the layoff scheme,” said a union official at the automaker’s only plant in Pyeongtaek, located south of Seoul.
A local bankruptcy court said earlier this month that Ssangyong, which has been under bankruptcy protection since February, has a survival value exceeding that of liquidation, but still needs to push for its plan to lay off 2,646 workers, or 36 percent of total workforce, to avoid liquidation.