Daewoo Bus union "Please block the sale of Ulsan factory land"... Urged on Ulsan City

(Ulsan = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Ji-hyun = On the 21st, the Jail Daewoo Bus (hereinafter referred to as Daewoo Bus) labor union urged the city of Ulsan to block the sale of the site, saying, "Yeongan Moja Group, the parent company of Daewoo Bus, is trying to destroy the possibility of the plant being restarted and operated again by selling the Ulsan plant site."

The Busan-Yangsan branch of the Daewoo Bus Union (National Metal Workers' Union Daewoo Bus Branch), an umbrella organization of the Daewoo Bus Union, held a press conference at the Ulsan City Hall Press Center on this day and demanded, "Ulsan City should exercise its administrative authority to completely block the sale of factory land."

The union claimed, “(By selling the land), they are trying to avoid the law of reinstatement orders and only make profit from real estate market prices, and rehash in Ulsan the vicious real estate speculation techniques that they enjoyed using the Gijang Daewoo Industrial Complex scam in Busan.”

He also pointed out, "Ulsan City invested a huge amount of taxpayers' money after signing a business agreement to relocate the factory, but the Ulsan City administration was completely helpless while the laid-off workers protected the factory by proving the fake closure of the business."

He added, “The only action taken by Ulsan City was to file a lawsuit for the return of infrastructure support funds worth 2.7 billion won and win,” adding, “The second trial is in progress without even recovering a single penny from the company.”

The issue with the Daewoo Bus Ulsan factory arose in May 2020 when it became known that the company was planning to close the factory and focus on investing in overseas factories such as Vietnam.

The company fired about 350 workers at the Ulsan factory in October of the same year, but this dismissal was ruled unfair by the Central Labor Relations Commission in April 2021.

Labor and management reached an agreement and restarted the factory at the end of June 2021, but management closed the factory again in July of the following year, resulting in 272 workers being fired for the second time.

The Ulsan Regional Labor Relations Commission and the National Labor Relations Commission ruled that the second dismissal was an unfair dismissal due to a fake business closure and an unfair labor practice.

The company filed an administrative lawsuit against the decision of the Labor Relations Commission, but lost in both the first and second trials, and appealed the case, which is pending in the Supreme Court.