Welcome to BASE21

Alternative demands for saving Daewoo have been made in a statement by 80,000 Korean autoworkers.

KOREA, REP: Having already laid off 3,000 of its workforce, the financially troubled Daewoo Motors announced yesterday, October 31, that a further 3,500 workers will be made redundant, wages will be cut again, by 30 per cent, and unprofitable overseas plants are to be shut down. In an attempt to increase its capital by 900 billion won (US$ 792 million), the carmaker will take self-help measures through the first half of 2001. It expects to reduce the deficit in 2001 and make a profit of 10,000 billion won (US$ 8.8 billion) in 2002.
The Korean Metal Workers' Federation says that huge debts have accumulated due to the long-time poor management of the company. Workers have not received any income for the last two months and are now working on an alternating-week schedule. The president of the Daewoo Motor Workers' Union, who was arrested following strikes last spring related to the situation at the company (see associated link), is still in prison and the remaining union leadership is either in jail or on the wanted lists.
In a statement issued on October 31 by the KMWF, the federation has declared that the 80,000 workers employed in the Korean auto industry will go on "an all-out struggle" until the government accepts their demands, which are the following:
- Daewoo Motors must come under public ownership, with the union, shareholders, creditors and public banks having ownership of the company.
- The government must clarify the root cause of the current crisis and not shift the responsibility onto the workers.
- An Emergency Management Committee must be set up, having the involvement of the union, creditors and government, and it should be the main decision-making body.
- The government must give up its adjustment plan.
- The government should accept the failure of its sale policy and move towards normalization of Daewoo.