'Chimney protest' ends
Ex-Ssangyong worker back on ground
By Jung Min-ho
Former Ssangyong Motor worker Lee Chang-geun waves to supporters as he comes down from a chimney after finishing a 101-day protest at the company’s plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. / Yonhap
A “chimney protest” that highlighted the plight of 187 workers laid off by Ssangyong Motor in 2009 is over.
Lee Chang-geun, who demanded their reinstatement from atop a 70-meter chimney at the company’s plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, came down Monday.
“With negotiations between the union and management in progress, I thought it wouldn’t be necessary to continue this protest,” he said. “I hope no other workers will have to come up here ever again. It is extremely painful and lonely.”
Nearby the chimney, about 20 laid-off Ssangyong workers staged a protest saying, “It is time for the company to respond.”
Exactly 101 days have passed since he climbed up onto the chimney in icy-cold weather on Dec. 13, along with Kim Jeong-wook, who came down earlier because of health problems.
Police didn’t take Lee into custody immediately. Before questioning him over the illegal protest, police will let him get a medical check-up.
“We plan to question him after checking his health,” a police officer said. “We are considering whether to request an arrest warrant.”
Lee’s demands have not been met. But his protest evoked public sympathy for the workers after a Supreme Court ruling against them in November.
Liberal politicians and activists, including singer Lee Hyo-ri, have backed him at the National Assembly and on streets, forcing the company to find other ways to solve the issue outside of court.
In January, Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group which owns the automaker, responded to the protest by meeting some of the fired workers at the plant. Then, Ssangyong Motor CEO Lee Yoo-il reopened dialogue with the union to discuss their reinstatement.
Lee Chang-geun said he decided to stop his protest in order not to interfere with negotiations between the company and the union.
“I will come down with trust in Choi Johng-sik, who will soon be a new CEO, executives and my former colleagues,” he said on Twitter on Sunday. “I have been concerned that my protest might hamper the negotiations.
“I no longer have hard feelings against CEO Lee and Choi.”
The company released its latest compact SUV, the Tivoli, 20,000 of which have been sold on contract since January.
That is also good news for the fired workers because Mahindra suggested that they might get their jobs back if the company gets out of the red.
“I will pay the price of using the chimney for protest, and I will accept punishment, if I have to,” Lee Chang-geun wrote.
It has been a long and tough battle for many. Over the past five years, a total of 26 laid-off Ssangyong workers and their family members have died, some by committing suicide.