Unionized workers at Ssangyong Motor Co., controlled by China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., on Friday voted down a tentative collective agreement reached earlier with management.
Of the 4,994 union members who cast ballots, 62.9 percent voted against the agreement which calls for a wage freeze this year and the suspension of a company plan to sack 554 workers and to invest 1.2 trillion won (US$1.25 billion) a year until 2009 to develop new engines and vehicles, union officials said.
It required a simple majority to make the agreement valid.
Ssangyong Motor, the fourth-largest automaker in South Korea, has 5,326 unionized workers.
The labor union said it will call an emergency meeting of union representatives to discuss how to carry out its future protest.
A company spokesman said the management has no more offers to the labor union. "Unionized workers don't seem to feel the crisis the company faces. The management has told the union that it has no choice but to lay off workers unless the agreement is approved," he said.
Ssangyong Motor's unionized workers have also demanded their company stop transferring auto-making technology to its Chinese parent, but the issue was not addressed in the provisional agreement.
On Aug. 11, the union filed a lawsuit in Seoul against Ssangyong Motor President Choi Hyung-tak and eight directors, including Jiang Zhiwei, Shanghai Automotive's vice chairman, accusing them of leaking technology.
About 5,300 unionized workers have engaged in partial strikes since July 14. The union began full-time strikes from Aug. 11 and have locked themselves in the auotmaker's main plant in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.
On the news of a temporary agreement, shares of Ssangyong Motor gained 6.3 percent to close at 4,400 won on the Seoul bourse.
In late 2004, Shanghai Automotive purchased a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor, becoming the first Chinese company to acquire a major South Korean manufacturer.
Hit by labor unrest and falling sales of sports-utility vehicles, Ssangyong Motor's main market, the automaker lost its No.4 spot to Renault Samsung Motors Co. and became the smallest automaker among five competitors in South Korea, with the market now dominated by Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp.
In July, Ssangyong Motor sold 6,477 cars, down 51.8 percent from a year ago, the company said earlier.
Seoul, Aug. 25 (Yonhap News)
Ssangyong Motor union rejects collective agreement |
