The Seoul High Court rejected a lower court's decision to imprison two unionists of Ssangyong Motors who were involved in the occupation of the company's Pyeongtaek plant in Gyeonggi Province. The court had handed down two-year prison terms suspended for four years.
According to the court, a man identified as Lee and another unidentified unionist joined the occupation that had caused several billion won in damage to the company last year.
Judge Lee Si-gyu acknowledged that the company's management and labor unionists agreed to drop a damage suit late last year. "The Ssangyong strike was a tragic and illegal collective action. However, the defendants joined the occupation after they have been fired, which gives some room for leniency," he said. "The two-year imprisonment term was too harsh," he added.
The occupation was sparked when management cut 2,130 positions at the assembly line earlier last year. Hundreds of laid off workers took over several buildings of its main plant and locked management out of the factory for more than two months.