Police begin offensive to retake Ssangyong plant

Social Affairs

Published: 05 Aug. 2009, 02:17

Police begin offensive to retake Ssangyong plant

Police began an operation yesterday to remove laid-off workers occupying a Ssangyong Motor car paint factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, but the workers strongly resisted by setting fire to passenger cars used as barricades. [YONHAP]

Police yesterday launched a full-scale operation to gain access to Ssangyong Motor’s Pyeongtaek car paint factory, where over 500 laid-off workers have been staging a 75-day sit-in. At least 23 people were reported injured during the skirmish.

At 9:50 a.m. police stationed outside the plant began moving in. Two police helicopters were also mobilized and shot liquid tear gas on the factory roof.

Though workers fought back using slingshots, Molotov cocktails and burning tires, police managed to secure the roof of another building connected to the car paint factory an hour later. They also seized roads adjacent to the factory, indicating that a larger raid was imminent. Police also used forklifts to remove 70 metal pallets used as barricades on the west side of the factory.

“Police will secure every building in the plant today, except for the car paint factory which has been occupied by the striking workers,” a senior police official at the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency told reporters. “We will then decide when to storm the factory to force eviction.”

After the lingering negotiations between the automaker’s management and its labor union collapsed without reaching substantial agreement on Sunday, 115 striking workers quit their occupation and headed home, according to police. Because the factory contains flammable material, authorities dispatched fire engines and firefighters to the scene.

Black fumes were seen at several spots near the paint factory as clashes between police and workers continued. Management and striking workers accused each other of starting the fire. Some 500 non-striking workers appeared at the main gate of the factory as police began operations and dismantled nine tents that were set up by striking workers’ families and opposition parties. Minor clashes were reported.

Meanwhile, creditors of Ssangyong Motor’s subcontractors said yesterday that they will ask a court to send the automaker into bankruptcy today as scheduled.

They will also file compensation suits against management and striking workers to collect strike damages of 10 billion won ($8.1 million).

“We are aware of Ssangyong’s dire situation, but the situation among the subcontractors is also serious,” said Choi Byeong-whoon, a senior member of the Ssangyong subcontractor creditor group.

Ssangyong owes the subcontractors about 300 billion won, the largest figure among the company’s creditors. Most of the automaker’s 600 subcontractors are closed temporarily due to the shutdown of auto production caused by the occupation.

By Jang Joo-young, Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]