[olympiaworkers] Pyeongtaek strike continues in South Korea

June 21, 2009 Libcom.org

A strike now completing its fourth week at Ssangyong Motors in Pyeongtaek,
South Korea, remains a standoff as of this writing. The strike echoes in
many ways the dynamic seen in the recent Visteon struggle in the UK and in
battles over auto industry restructuring around the world. Involving, on
the other hand, an outright factory seizure and occupation, and
preparation for violent defense of the plant if necessary, it is the first
struggle of its kind in South Korea for years.

Loren Goldner

(June 19)

The company was taken over three years ago by China's Shanghai Automotive
Industry Corporation, which holds 51% ownership. At the time, the
Pyeongtaek plant had 8700 employees; it now has 7000. In February the
company filed for bankruptcy, proposing a restructuring and offering the
Pyeongtaek plant as collateral for further loans to re-emerge from
bankruptcy. The court approved the bankruptcy plan, pending adequate
layoffs to make the company profitable again.

The management strategy seems to have been a long-term whittling down of
personnel combined with acquisition of technology for operations in China.
Since the Shanghai Automotive takeover, there has been no new investment
at Ssangyong Motors, and no new car model launched. (Korean prosecutors
have raised questions over the legality of the technology transfer to
China, since the technology in question was developed with Korean
government subsidies, but to date no legal action has been taken.)

Workers at the plant responded with strikes against pending layoffs in
April which accelerated into a full strike and plant takeover and
occupation by 1700 workers on May 27 when the list of workers to be laid
off was announced. The strike focused on three main demands: 1) no layoffs
2) job security for all and 3) no outsourcing. The company wants to force
1700 workers into early retirement and has fired 300 casuals.

The Ssangyong workers are organized in the Korean Metal Workers Union
(KMWU) and have worked an average of 15-20 years in the factory. A regular
worker earns a base pay of approximately 30,000,000 won (currently ca.
$25,000) per year; a casual earns about 15,000,000 for the same work. (In
Korea, the base pay is only part of the salary, which includes benefits
–for regular workers—as well as significant overtime paid at a higher
rate, often 10 hours a week and accepted, or even desired, by most workers
as a necessary income supplement.)

As of mid-June, about 1000 workers were continuing the occupation, with
wives and families providing food. About 500 workers not slated for layoff
are staying at home, and about 1000 supervisory staff are scabbing, mainly
maintaining machines, while no cars have been produced since the
occupation began.

There has been to date little mass police presence in Pyeongtaek. This is
due at least in part to to the current political crisis in South Korea
following the recent suicide of ex-president No Mu Hyeon and subsequent
large-scale demonstrations expressing growing outrage against the current
right-wing government of Lee Myong Bak, demonstrations that are expected
to gain momentum into July. The Lee government, elected in December 2007
on a program of high economic growth and now discredited by the world
crisis, has been taken aback by the depth of outrage revealed in
demonstrations mobilizing up to 1 million people. After the unleashing of
riot police provoked further outrage and brought more people to the
streets, the government is unwilling to risk further disenchantment by an
assault on the Pyeongtaek factory.

On June 16, a large anti-strike rally of more than 1500 people was held
outside the factory gates. The rally was attended by the 1000 supervisory
scabs, 200 hired thugs and 300 workers not on the layoff list and not
supporting the strike. 400 riot police stood by, doing nothing, and
finally declared the scab assembly illegal.

During the scab rally, about 700-800 workers from nearby factories, such
as the Kia Motor company, came to defend the Ssangyang plant, in part in
response to a text message tree of the KMWU.

The occupying workers have made plans for armed defense against any police
attempt to recapture the plant, stocking iron pipes and Molotov cocktails.
As a further fallback plan, they intend to concentrate in the paint
department, where the flammable materials (in their estimate) will
dissuade the police from firing tear gas cannisters and setting off a
conflagration.

According to one activist critical of the role of the union, the KMWU
seems to remain in control of the strike. In contrast to role of the
unions in the Visteon struggle in the UK and in the dismantling of the US
auto industry, the KMWU has thus far supported the illegal actions of
seizing the plant and preparing for its armed defense. On the other hand,
it has been concentrating on the demand for no layoffs and soft-pedaling
the demands for job security for all and against out-sourcing.

The core occupation of the plant is powered by 50 or 60 rank-and-file
groups of 10 workers each, who in turn elect a delegate (chojang) for
coordinated action. According to the same critical activist, these chojang
are the most combative and class-conscious workers.

The outcome of this strike remains up in the air. It benefits from a
momentarily favorable political climate, which has put the Korean
government on the back foot, but it is up against the deep crisis of the
world auto industry and the world economic crisis generally. The nearby
Kia Motor Company plant is itself in the middle of critical negotiations
for crisis measures, and GM-Daewoo is being hit with the world
reorganization of GM. The company strategy, as in the case of Visteon,
seems to be at best slow attrition (already underway since 2006) or even
an outright closing of the plant. The Ssangyong Motor struggle may light a
fire in the Korean auto industry and beyond, or, more likely, be
strangled, slowly or not so slowly, in its current isolation.