S. Korean Auto Workers to Continue Strike

Striking workers rejected a negotiated settlement at South Korea’s second-largest automobile maker Monday, setting the tone for what is expected to be a long but generally peaceful season of labor unrest.

Members of the union representing about 9,600 workers at Daewoo Motor’s four plants in the Inchon and Seoul areas narrowly voted not to accept management’s offer of an $85-a-month raise, which would have boosted base wages by more than 20%. The union has demanded a 42.9% raise in total compensation.

Daewoo Motor, which is half owned by General Motors, has been shut since April 12, and the company estimates that it will face sales losses of up to $200 million if the strike continues through the end of the month.

Nearly 100 other labor disputes remain unsolved across South Korea as negotiations on annual wage increases move into high gear. In contrast to last summer, when widespread violence erupted during work stoppages, this year’s activities have been relatively free from serious trouble.

One major exception was a clash Sunday between militant strikers and pro-company activists at the Samsung Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries shipyard on Koje Island. Twenty-six workers were reported injured by rocks and wooden clubs in a fight over the workers’ attempts to register with local authorities as a legal union.

The strikers decided to go back to work Monday, however, after extracting promises from management that they would be paid the highest wages in the South Korean shipbuilding industry.

Daewoo Motor’s plant at Inchon, where its Le Mans model is made for export to the United States, was the site of some of the worst labor violence last year.

“We have very unpleasant memories,” company spokesman Shin Young Suk said. “Both management and labor are trying to control themselves. But both sides have a lot to learn. Nobody knows how to negotiate.”

More than 1,400 labor unions have been organized since sweeping democratic reforms were announced at the end of last June. Militant labor activities have spread from heavy industries to coal mining and even some white-collar jobs.

Meanwhile, a union representing employees at 13 financial institutions in Seoul announced Monday that it had begun a work slowdown to press its demand for higher wages. Male employees stopped wearing ties in protests, and female clerks changed out of their bank uniforms into street clothes.