A proposal by troubled Ssangyong for its workers to end a month-long strike was met with an immediate refusal by the union Friday, as clashes between strikers and non-strikers provoked some intervention by riot police.
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Two court-appointed managers supervising Ssangyong’s bankruptcy proceedings said the company would offer severance packages to some of the workers to be laid off. They also promised to rehire them once the company turns itself around.
The Yonhap news agency said that 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.
“The company’s proposal did nothing but say that it would proceed with the restructuring plan,” the spokesman said.
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By GlobalData“Layoffs are murder,” chanted striking workers standing on top of shipping containers that blocked the Pyeongtaek plant’s main gate.
Striking workers scuffled with hundreds of Ssangyong employees. Three who apparently suffered serious injuries were sent to a nearby hospital while union officials say the number may grow, Yonhap said.
Clashes began after about 3,000 supporters of the managers marched into the plant, which has been surrounded by thousands of riot police.
Police said about 600 officers charged into the carmaker’s plant to break up the disturbances.
Reports say 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.
Union workers began partial strikes in April in protest against the bankrupt company’s plans to reduce staff by more than 2,500 and, on 22 May, stepped up the strikes and began an illegal occupation of the Pyeongtaek plant, bringing production to a standstill.
