Striking Workers Barricade Selves
Riot police on Sunday surrounded a building where 15,000 striking union workers barricaded themselves to protest a bank merger they fear will lead to job layoffs.
Source : AFP
By PAUL SHIN, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Riot police on Sunday surrounded a building where 15,000 striking union workers barricaded themselves to protest a bank merger they fear will lead to job layoffs.
Helicopters circled the bank research institute at Ilsan, four miles north of Seoul, broadcasting warnings for the workers inside to disperse or face arrest.
But the workers blocked the main gate, pledging to continue to fight.
``If the current union leaders are arrested, new leaders will be elected immediately to fight to the last,'' the unions said.
The unions of two major commercial banks - Kookmin and Housing & Commercial - went on strike Friday to protest a merger of their firms that will create the largest bank in South Korea and that they fear will cost them their jobs.
The two banks, backed by the government, rejected the unions' demand to rescind the merger.
About 2,000 riot police ringed the rally site, and police tightened a cordon with reinforcements.
Overnight, seven workers were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from burning coal briquets while sleeping in makeshift tents.
``The merger is not a matter of labor dispute,'' the two banks said in a statement. ``We're pushing the merger, believing that it will strengthen our competitiveness.''
The banks said their major foreign shareholders - Goldman Sachs of the United States and ING Insurance International of the Netherlands - led the merger.
The merger will create the largest bank in South Korea with total assets of $12.7 billion.
The labor protest disrupted operations at the two banks, with most of the 1,140 outlets forced to shut down Saturday.
The government has ruled the bank strike illegal and warned that all union leaders will be arrested.
The Korea Financial Industry Union, an umbrella of labor unions at the nation's 22 banks, said a bigger walkout involving more banks will be held Thursday.
Restructuring businesses and inefficient banks are the centerpiece of President Kim Dae-jung (news - web sites)'s economic reforms. He has pledged to complete those reforms by February, the start of his fourth year in office.
Most South Korean (news - web sites) banks are struggling under huge debts incurred by the collapse of thousands of companies during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
South Korea's labor market has become more flexible because of the crisis. But workers still resist layoffs in a country accustomed until recently to lifetime employment.
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