Union leaders of South Korea's auto companies agreed on Wednesday to end a week-long strike which erupted to block the possible sale of Daewoo Motor to a foreign firm. The workers’ leaders were in heated talks earlier on Wednesday over whether to continue strikes aimed at blocking the possible sale of Daewoo Motor to a foreign firm.
"Union leaders began talks [Wednesday]," Kim Tae-jung, spokesman for unions at the country's four automakers, told Reuters. "The discussion could go on until Thursday as the sale of Daewoo Motor is a pretty sensitive issue."
But partial and intermittent industrial actions would continue until the government withdraws the sale plan, another spokesman for automakers' unions told Reuters on Wednesday.
“We agreed to resume work from Monday,” said spokesman Kong Kye-jin. “But we are planning a partial strike on April 19 and a full-scale strike on April 27 to press our demand.”
Kong said union workers would step up their actions in May in cooperation with other metal industry workers unless the sale plan was dropped.
Reuters said there were no demonstrations on Wednesday, a day after some 700 auto workers fought riot police who blocked them from storming the ruling party's headquarters to protest against the Daewoo Motor sale plan.
On Tuesday, About 700 South Korean auto workers fought riot police as they tried to storm the ruling party's headquarters to protest the possible takeover of automaker Daewoo Motor by foreign investors, Reuters added.
"Stop the sale of Daewoo Motor abroad!" the protesters shouted as they scuffled with riot police in fisticuffs that did not involve rock-throwing or tear gas, witnesses told Reuters.
Earlier last week workers at Daewoo had began the strike demanding that Daewoo be nationalized or sold to a domestic carmaker, and were joined by workers of the other three manufacturers: Hyundai, Kia and Ssangyong. They told the Associated Press a foreign ownership of Daewoo would result in mass layoffs.
The government, however, labeled the strikes as illegal, setting police forces out to arrest more than twenty union leaders after it accused them of allegedly causing the workers to walk off their jobs without a mandatory 15-day warning period, AP reported.
Unionists fearing their jobs may be at stake have been on an all-out strike since last Thursday, to derail the planned sale of Daewoo Motor.
Local creditor banks, several of them nationalized, now plan to sell Daewoo Motor through a limited auction by end-August, while AP reported an earlier time frame of June. US auto giants General Motors and Ford Motor Company, as well as Italy’s only auto conglomerate Fiat, were among The initial bidders for Daewoo, while DaimlerChryser AG of Germany and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. withdrew from the race for Daewoo, AP reported.
Daewoo Motor produced 758,500 vehicles last year at its 17 facilities at home and abroad. At the end of last year, Daewoo Motor had $18.3 billion in total assets and $13.9 billion in debts, according to AP.
By taking over Daewoo, U.S. automakers hope to strengthen their presence in Asia, which is expected to become the fastest growing auto market in the world.
Hyundai and Kia, which was acquired by Hyundai last year, together control nearly 80 percent of South Korea's 1.3 million car market. South Korea sold 1.52 million cars in the US and other countries last year -- (Agencies)- Photo AFP
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