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3 April, 2000Union workers do not want to see the auto company sold off to a foreign buyer.
KOREA, REP: Industrial action by 10,000 union workers at Daewoo Motor Company began on March 31 in opposition to the projected sale of the South Korean carmaker to a foreign company. The expected sale of Daewoo Motor follows the collapse of the Daewoo Group in mid-summer 1999, with debts of some $70 billion, and the government's economic restructuring programme.
Names such as General Motors and Ford in the U.S., Fiat in Italy, the German-U.S. firm DaimlerChrysler, and even South Korea's Hyundai have been mentioned as putting in bids to take over the weakened company which was once the country's No. 2 carmaker. GM and Ford are especially intent on getting a production foothold in the Asian market and are the favourites in the present race.
The Daewoo Motor union stated that it will continue the strike until April 12, and if the plan to sell is not dropped, the IMF-affiliated Korean Metal Workers Federation says that three other auto unions with 62,000 workers will join the strike.
To give Daewoo Motor another chance to regain its strength, trade unionists are pressing for it to be nationalised. If the company is indeed sold, it will be the first-ever sale of a Korean carmaker to a foreign buyer.
Names such as General Motors and Ford in the U.S., Fiat in Italy, the German-U.S. firm DaimlerChrysler, and even South Korea's Hyundai have been mentioned as putting in bids to take over the weakened company which was once the country's No. 2 carmaker. GM and Ford are especially intent on getting a production foothold in the Asian market and are the favourites in the present race.
The Daewoo Motor union stated that it will continue the strike until April 12, and if the plan to sell is not dropped, the IMF-affiliated Korean Metal Workers Federation says that three other auto unions with 62,000 workers will join the strike.
To give Daewoo Motor another chance to regain its strength, trade unionists are pressing for it to be nationalised. If the company is indeed sold, it will be the first-ever sale of a Korean carmaker to a foreign buyer.