Where are we on issue of labor? > 영어토론방

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Employees Unable to Enter Ssangyong Motor

The employees of Ssangyong Motor have tried to enter its factory occupied by fired workers in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province for two days in row as of Wednesday.

The workers came to the factory at around 8:30 a.m., but the laid-off unionized workers kept the gates closed and surrounded the fence, wearing masks and armed with pipes.

Police stood guard to stop any possible physical collision between the two groups, and warned the dismissed workers against using the pipes as weapon, and throwing feces.

The company said that some union members attacked three security guards hired by the company Tuesday.

``It is an illegal and systematical act of violence,'' said an executive of the carmaker. ``We urge the police to strictly investigate this violence and punish them in accordance with the law.''

Meanwhile, the union criticized the company for not honoring its pledge to not mobilize workers. The company and employees will try to enter the factory until Friday, then the feud is likely to deepen.

The dealerships of the troubled carmaker also called for the resumption of operations as soon as possible.

``Customers are canceling contracts because of the sit-in strike, and the shops are suffering from cash flow problems,'' said an official of the car salesmen association during a press conference Wednesday. ``We may go bankrupt if the strike continues.''

The labor union went on strike requesting the company retract its mass dismissal. They started a partial strike on April 24, and occupied the factory and blocked the gate on May 26.

In addition, three union executives have been in a sit-down strike on the chimney of the factory building since May 13, but one quit last Saturday due to health problems.

The union claims that the government is responsible for this situation because it sold the local carmaker to China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, and has asked for direct discussion with the government, not the company, to ask for an immediate injection of public capital to rejuvenate Ssangyong.

Excerpt from 「The Korea Times
Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/06/117_47379.html

Wildcat strikes spread in support of Lindsey oil refinery workers
The dispute over the sacking of 650 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery increased last night as wildcat strikes spread to four other British industrial sites and Total, its French parent company, rejected calls for further talks with union chiefs.
As Lindsey workers publicly burnt their dismissal letters at a rally outside the Lincolnshire plant and union bosses branded the sackings “outrageous”, at least 1,740 workers joined the walkouts in sympathy. They included 900 contractors at the Sellafield nuclear plant in west Cumbria, who stopped work after a lunchtime mass meeting.
Michel Bénézit, Total’s president of refining and marketing, placed the blame for the dispute on sub-contractors who had been involved in the expansion of the Lindsey plant, which was approaching completion.
“The discussion has to take place between the unions and the sub-contractors,” he told The Times from Paris. “It is not our duty . . . [and] we are not responsible.”
The French oil and gas company fired about 650 contracted workers last week in a dispute over threatened redundancies on a ?300 million project to install desulphurisation equipment. Total, which insists that the staff were temporary, said they had until 4pm yesterday to reapply for their jobs but many appeared intent on defying that call.
“Let them show us how many want to go back in there crawling on their bellies for their jobs,” Phil Whitehurst, a union official, said at the rally. “We go out together, we go back together.”
Tom Hardacre, Unite’s national officer, also adopted an uncompromising stance. “The outrageous sacking of workers at Lindsey is one the most aggressive acts I’ve witnessed as a trade union official,” he said.
“Even some of the employers at Lindsey did not want to issue the letters to the workers but were forced to do so.”
The dispute showed little sign of ending yesterday. At EDF Energy’s Eggborough coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, 300 contracted staff walked out in sympathy. A further 240 construction staff at the South Hook liquefied natural gas terminal in Milford Haven, South Wales, and 300 workers at an oil refinery on the Humber operated by ConocoPhillips also joined the protests.
At all of them, and at Sellafield, officials emphasised that there had been no disruption to their everyday activities as most of the striking workers were builders and scaffolders rather than operations staff.
The fresh walkouts yesterday mean the disruption has affected 16 of Britain’s largest power stations and energy plants, raising fears that Britain’s power supplies could be affected if the dispute continues.

Excerpt from 「Times Online」
Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6558118.ece