The news that General Motors will close its underutilized Gunsan plant in South Korea has sent shockwaves through the city, and the local union has already begun drawing up plans for protests, which could include a strike.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that workers called the move a “death sentence” after locals proclaimed they’d done their best to keep the Gunsan plant afloat. Park Chung-hi, chairwoman of the Gunsan city council, said locals have loyally purchased GM vehicles in an effort to support the plant. She added one in five Gunsan residents relies on the automaker’s operations.
GM initiated a redundancy program for all of its 16,000 workers in South Korea following the closure announcement. The automaker is offering workers three times their annual base salary, money for college tuition and more than $9,000 toward a new car as part of the package.
Workers, bluntly, aren’t having it. Plans for protests are in the works, and a strike may be looming. Workers may also execute a sit-in protest at the GM Korea headquarters, according to the union. GM said it would hold discussions with the union in an effort to reach an understanding.
The automaker has battled high wages and low productivity in South Korea for years, but the union sees things differently and blames the company for reducing output at factories.
And locals are worried about the economy following the plant’s closure this May. In the city of 270,000 residents, many foresee other businesses closing up shop following the plant’s departure.
Comments
My hope is that they push GM so far that they pull out of South Korea. Good riddance to the Socialists.
GM did the same in Australia – made out how sad they were for the workers, retraining plans, made out how hard they tried to keep the operation going. Said they could not keep going with out “co-investment”. Got millions from the Australian government then pulled the pin and ran for cover. Expecting Australians to buy what they want them to buy rather than what Australians want to buy.
The ever shrinking GM is running out of time. How many millions of former customers and workers are waiting for the day GM finally implodes and is pronounced dead.
I get why people would be upset. Anyone who loses their job over any reason would be upset. Doesn’t matter what it is or what company it was for… GM is an American company and got not millions but billions from us. How do you think American’s feel when the exact same thing happens over here? Because it’s happened a number of times. We’ve had Many closed plants and unemployed workers from GM sending jobs elsewhere. And it’s not just GM. Most of our American founded companies sold us out over the last 30 years to make an extra buck. There’s no loyalty to us, there’s no loyalty to you, there’s no loyalty to anyone. I don’t like it, obviously you don’t either but it is what it is. I’m sorry for your loss but a lot of us have lost. It’s part of the new global business model for better or worse.
That said, I doubt GM is going anywhere anytime soon. But even if the world economy imploded there would always be a remnant of GM remaining. Just like Ford will always exist in some fashion, Chevrolet by itself most likely will always too.
This is the Korean way as they view General Motors as being a villain despite the fact they are the ones forcing the company to do this as many of these workers probably do not even own a GM product; the people of South Korea are very Nationalistic as Apple’s iPhone only has a 4-percent market share of the smartphone market in South Korea as this gives you a clear picture of how difficult it is to do business in South Korea.