Ssangyong workers stage strike against job cuts

Workers at Ssangyong Motor Co., the South Korean automaker under bankruptcy protection, began a partial strike Friday to protest the company's proposed plans to cut jobs.

Workers will halt production for four hours, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Last week, unionized workers of the financially troubled carmaker approved a proposed strike against massive layoffs announced by the automaker as part of its restructuring efforts.

Ssangyong, 51-percent owned by China's top automaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), said earlier it would slash 2,646 jobs, or 37 percent of its total workforce, to reassure creditors of its viability.

The Ssangyong union, with a membership of some 5,100 workers out of the company's 7,100-strong workforce, has accused SAIC of stealing technology and abandoning the company as the market turned sour.

Ssangyong became the first big corporate casualty in South Korea as the global economic crisis dampened demand for its vehicles.

The beleaguered automaker suffered a net loss of 709.7 billion won (US$535 million) in 2008 on sales of 2.5 trillion won, down 20 percent from a year earlier.

In the first three months of this year, Ssangyong's vehicle sales nosedived 76 percent to 6,471 units. The company has a production capacity of 220,000 vehicles a year.

On May 22, a bankruptcy judge from the Seoul Central District Court will meet with Ssanyong's creditors and debt holders to decide on the viability of the automaker. If the company's turnaround plan is not deemed viable, it will be liquidated.