From: "Curtis Price" <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Thu, 9 Jan 1997 20:01:17 +0000
Subject:       (Fwd) [73] HYUNDAI WORKERS BACK TO WORK IN SOUTH KOREA -- PART


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Wed, 8 Jan 1997 21:44:08 -0500
From:          NewsHound-AT-sjmercury.com (NewsHound)

Subject:       [73] HYUNDAI WORKERS BACK TO WORK IN SOUTH KOREA -- PARTIALLY

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "STRIKES". The selectivity score was
 73 out of 100.

Hyundai workers back to work in South Korea -- partially
By SANG-HUN CHOE

Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Union leaders decided Wednesday to send workers back 
to their jobs on a limited basis at Hyundai export plants to coax concessions 
>from the government on a new labor law.

The plants will resume partial operation Thursday. The 80,000 workers on strike 
at Hyundai Motors Co. and 14 other Hyundai plants will work at least two hours a
 day through Tuesday, the unions said.

Union leaders have set a deadline of midnight Tuesday for the government to 
repeal a new labor law that workers say jeopardizes their jobs. Employees have 
threatened all-out strikes unless President Kim Young-sam retracts the law.

Kim says the measure is necessary to help pull South Korea out of one of its 
worst economic downturns.

``Our action will give President Kim another chance to think,'' said Hyundai 
union leader Kim Myong-ho.

Workers at Hyundai Motors Co., the nation's No. 1 car maker, will work six hours
 Thursday, he said.

Hyundai unions have led the nation's largest organized labor protests, which 
began Dec. 26 when Kim's ruling party pushed the law through Parliament in a 
secretive, pre-dawn session, with no opposition members present.

The nation's second-largest conglomerate, Hyundai produces 5,400 cars a day, 
about half of which are sold abroad. It also manufactures ships, chemicals and 
electronics.

``Other unions may also return to partial operation,'' said Choi Myong-ah, an 
official at the outlawed Confederation of Trade Unions, which is organizing the 
nationwide strikes. ``We want to show the people that we are patient.

``But we also are preparing for the worst and holding our ranks to launch 
full-blown strikes,'' Choi said.

Prosecutors said they will request arrest warrants for union leaders on 
Thursday.

``The government has no option but to take firm action ... to prevent the 
strikes from aggravating the already difficult economic situation,'' said Home 
Minister Kim Woo-suk.

Striking auto mechanics provided free tuneups and nurses gave free checkups 
Wednesday, hoping to win popular support for the strikes.

At a Seoul park, 5,000 nurses, office workers and professionals gathered, and in
 the southern city of Ulsan, about 15,000 striking workers and their families 
rallied for the second day in a row.

The confederation said 219,000 workers were on strike. But the Labor Ministry 
said only 79,000 workers were taking part in the work stoppage.

So far, subway, phone company and cargo dock workers have stayed on the job 
because their work directly affects average people and could turn public opinion
 against the strikes.

If the government doesn't repeal the new labor law, the workers will join the 
strike next Wednesday, the confederation said.

While giving more powers to unions, the new law puts them on hold for three to 
five years. At the same time, the law gives management more power to lay off 
workers and hire substitute labor, unheard of in South Korea, where lifelong 
employment at one company is considered a matter of course.

In Brussels, Belgium, the world's largest trade union group on Wednesday 
denounced the new legislation for violating international regulations and 
expressed support for the nationwide strikes in South Korea.

A delegation from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions will 
travel to Seoul on Saturday to explain its concerns to the government.

AP-WS-01-08-97 1328EST


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