Poles Find Kimchi, Robots and High Wages in S. Korea

To Zbigniew Dabek, 45, a Polish auto worker, globalization means learning not only to make Korean cars but also to eat fiery kimchi with chopsticks.

He will pass on the half-cooked octopus. And his lip could not but curl when asked about the vivisected, still-wriggling fish dish.

“But I like very much this kimchi,” said the diplomatic Pole of the spicy pickled cabbage that is Korea’s culinary passion.

At this sophisticated auto plant on the wind-swept coast of western Korea, a showcase where robots, lasers and an ergonomic assembly line have made human sweat all but obsolete, 148 Poles are being indoctrinated in the fundamentalist capitalism that underlies the South Korean economic miracle.

Their new employer, Daewoo Motor Co., has invited them for a six-month on-the-job training program. The aim is to improve on their socialist work habits and introduce the new technologies they will need this fall when their formerly government-owned plant in Warsaw begins churning out the latest-model Daewoo passenger cars.

Strange as the cultural match may be, the Polish workers and their Korean masters each have compelling reasons to make it work.

The Daewoo Group’s goal is to internationalize into a “borderless holding company” by 2001. Already, the giant conglomerate has more workers overseas--about 107,000--than it has at home.

Kim Tae Gou, chairman of the Daewoo Motor subsidiary, said he wants eventually to bring every overseas employee to South Korea for six months of training. In the past 18 months, more than 4,700 Daewoo auto workers from Romania, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland and Uzbekistan have made the pilgrimage.

The company has been taking pains to provide them with cultural comforts. The delegation from Daewoo-FSO Motor Corp. in Warsaw arrived in Kunsan in February with 140 workers, four managers, two interpreters and two cooks. Daewoo considered it cruel to put Poles on a Korean diet for six months.

In Korea, it is shameful if a guest complains of paltry food, so Lho Sung Lai, the Kunsan manager in charge of the Poles, ordered up extra rations for them.

“Even so, food was short because they ate so much. I’m sure it was not because they were hungry, but because they were afraid that, if they didn’t eat it all, it would be given away to someone else,” Lho said. “But in time, they saw there is no shortage of food here, and now they consume much less.”

Daewoo’s trainees have both Polish and Korean holidays off. Polish newspapers and magazines arrive regularly, and the workers have a large collection of books and videotapes.

“There is the opinion that Polish people are very hospitable, but when we came here we found out that the Koreans are even more hospitable,” said Miroslaw Wojtyra, a manager.

The Koreans’ friendliness does not diminish their message: Polish employees should mimic their bosses to succeed in the global marketplace.

All of the Polish workers arrived in South Korea with supplies of vodka, now exhausted. The Koreans are fond of alcohol but frown on daytime drinking. Chin Sang Bum, the tough, blunt boss of the Kunsan plant, asked the Polish managers to crack down on the workers’ holiday excesses.

“We find most [Polish workers] diligent, but some are idle because they are used to the socialist system, where as long as they complete their hours, they get paid,” said Lho.

The Polish managers accept the criticism, but the workers are more defensive, declaring they are just as good as the Koreans. They hope the Daewoo purchase eventually will mean higher salaries in Warsaw. The average Daewoo worker in Warsaw earns about $4,500 per year; in Kunsan, the wage is five times higher.

The Polish workers know their Warsaw factory must make itself profitable, and Piotr Solecki, the senior Polish manager in charge of the trainees here, hopes the stint in South Korea will underscore to them--and the four trade unions at the plant--the need to improve attitude and efficiency.

“The last 50 years of Communist government did its damage,” he said.

Despite improvements, the Warsaw plant is still operating with 1950s technology.Daewoo executives say the Kunsan plant is the technological equal of the best Japanese and U.S. factories. Daewoo uses only 10 worker-hours to make a car, less than half the labor needed a decade ago.

Cars are raised and lowered as they pass different stages on the assembly line so workers need not stoop or crane. Anything more than 22 pounds is lifted by robot.

Despite the language barrier and the technology gap, it took the Polish workers in Kunsan only about a month to start performing as well as their Korean comrades, Lho said. What Daewoo wants them to absorb now is the fierce competitiveness that has driven the company’s success.

“I believe that technology transfer is not only documents and specifications, it is spirit,” said Lho. “Training workers here means changing their mind-set.”