SOUTH KOREA: Car workers fight back

An estimated 80,000 car workers in South Korea are on strike. Workers from Daewoo initiated the walk-out to protest the proposed sale of their company to a foreign monopoly. The workers are demanding the nationalisation of the company to avert mass retrenchments and wage cuts. The Daewoo workers have been joined by workers at Ssangyong, Hyundai and Kia motor companies.

According to NSW Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) secretary Andrew Ferguson, who is in Seoul, ``The solidarity of the workers across the auto industry is unbelievable. They are an inspiration not only to other Korean workers, but to workers around the world. Their passion, discipline and combativity is a real example of working class mobilisation.''

Over the April 8-9 weekend, the South Korean government sought arrest warrants for 17 Daewoo and Hyundai union leaders accused of leading the strike. Prime Minister Park Tae Joon called an emergency meeting of cabinet and threatened that the ``illegal activities of interest groups will be smashed''. The repression has not intimidated the workers and they have resolved to continue their action.

That same weekend, 5000 union members picketed Hyundai's Ulsan plant to demand higher wages and a halt to government plans to sell domestic car companies to multinational corporations.

According to Ferguson, the strike action is very significant as it comes on the eve of the annual spring round of struggles for wage increases. Analysts are predicting that labour struggles will be more fierce than in previous years.

BY PHIL DAVIES

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