Person raising

Music

01.00.00.00

arms, people on

stage, audience, cars, factory, people sitting, lying around, television

Colgan:  It's a scene impossible to imagine in Australia.  The giant Hyundai Motor Company - its biggest factory located in the south of the country, forcibly taken over and occupied by its workers.

00.08

Whole families are behind a barricade of brand new Hyundai cars, tanks of flammable liquid sit ready to send the lot up in flames.

For one month they've been deadlocked.  Workers on the inside, riot police outside as management and union leaders wage a battle over plans for mass layoffs at the factory.

Man lying watching, television, demonstration, man aat microphone

FX:  Television:  The Korea Employers Federation and other major business groups have appealed for a government inquiry into the violence between union members and management.

01.00

Colgan:  This fight between the strongest, most militant union in the country and one of South Korea's biggest conglomerates is seen as a showdown - crush the union here and you crush them everywhere.

01.06

Union Rep:  We will give the company until five o'clock tomorrow to accept our proposal, otherwise we will withdraw from everything that has been negotiated or agreed to so far.

01.22

Dissolve to map of Korea

People fighting, huge number of police marching, running, group of women,

Colgan:  It's been a bitter month at the Hyundai factory in Ulsan.  Violence has been a regular visitor with casualties on both sides.

01.40

woman crying

At one stage here, fifteen thousand riot police assembled outside this factory ready to charge. 

Women and children became the union's front line defence.

02.20

FX:  Woman crying

Colgan walking along, people working in factory, in house with family, walking through

Colgan:  Hyundai management warned us not to enter the factory compound without a bodyguard.  But we had one better - someone on the inside.

02.41

camp, greeting

family

In January last year, I visited this same factory.  I met assembly line worker, Kang Bong Jin - went to his home and met his wife Jung-yol and their young daughter.

02.57

Back then he forecast a tough battle looming between management and unions.

I'm told he's now in this makeshift camp - his home for the last month and around 10,000 other rebel workers.

03.18

Colgan:  It's a long time since I saw you, what's been happening?

03.31

Interview with Kang Bong Jin, saying goodbye to family, family walking away, interview with Kang

Kang:  What's new is that the number of unemployed has increased a lot.  According to official figures, there are now almost two million people unemployed.  The number of suicides has increased too and the number of homeless has increased as well.

Colgan:  I find there's a warrant out for his arrest along with dozens of other union leaders. 

04.02

He hasn't been able to leave the factory since the strike began.

Kang:  All of us, including the wives and children are afraid of a police raid - everyone is, who's been involved seriously in fighting this.  but if we stop our struggle now, it would feel like death to us.

04.12

Colgan:  The business sector says layoffs are essential if the economy is going to recover, do you accept that?

04.32

Interview with Kang

Kang:  I don't accept that.  I oppose layoffs and my colleagues agree.  If we thought we could survive after being laid off, we'd consider it - but the social welfare system is simply inadequate, so we cannot survive layoffs.

Ships, pan of harbour, buildings,

Colgan:  Hyundai provides one third of all jobs in Ulsan, a city of one million people.

05.13

tracking shots

people walking down steps

Take these jobs from them and there's precious little else to go to - and it's the same story the country over.

Music

Colgan:  Bankruptcies, layoffs, arbitrary sackings, almost five thousand jobs are lost every day.  One million jobs have disappeared just since the start of this year.

05.39

In South Korea, there's no such thing as a government unemployment benefit and many wind up here.

The resentment and anger are growing.  Seoul police refuse to come down to the city's subways with us for fear of an attack, so we went down on our own with a concealed camera.

People sitting on ground in subway

Men still in their work clothes, or mothers and their children lay huddled, surviving from day to day.

06.31

People sitting on bench, people sleeping on street

With no social welfare system to speak of - the government is watching this human scrap heap grow.

Interview with Kim Hong Bin, walking on street

Kim:  It's like, in Africa - you have the savanna where the vulture gets to scavenge what the hyena has left behind, so it is that where I'm living is a place fit for animals, not people.

07.04

Colgan:  48 year old Kim Hong Bin told me how he worked as a manager with the Kia Motor Company until it went bankrupt last November.  For 17 years he worked for them and was laid off without a cent.

Kim:  I really enjoyed my work at the company.  When I stood at the company gate to leave, my heart was so heavy. 

07.33

Colgan:  He's lived on the street since, leaving his wife and two daughters to rely on relatives. 

Kim Hong Bin walking down street with Colgan and woman, interview with Kim

Kim:  The hardest thing is, I can't sleep when it's time to sleep, I can't eat when it's time to eat and when I'm trying to sleep, there's fighting all the time.

07.56

As my companion here knows, at least one or two people a day are dying in winter because of the cold.

People get drunk and can't eat.  They have empty stomachs and nowhere to sleep.  One day an ambulance came to get one man but found him already dead.  It was such a pity, he was so young.

People sitting, people sleeping on street, interview with Kim

Colgan:  Some find day labouring work, but it's getting harder and harder to find.

08.50

Kim:  I applied to clean streets but the competition was so high, fifty people applied for the one job.

Maum:  My heart is so broken and it's so painful.  I really need to recover.  I'm crying tears of blood - I can't fully express how I feel.

Interview with Thae Khwarg

Super:

THAE KHWARG

Economic Analyst, Asset Korea

Khwarg:  Our unemployment might already be at ten percent at this level and once you have real big layoffs at Hyundai Motors and Samsung Electronics and so forth, we could easily get to fifteen percent I think at the depth of this crisis.

09.27

Colgan:  It sounds extraordinary for Korea, what is that likely to do to this country?

Khwarg:  Well, I guess this is a devastating experience and as bad as ... anything comparable in the minds of people living in Korea today would be the Korean War. 

Most of the people who survived the Korean War are people in their 50s and 60s, mostly their 60s, so for the people who are facing this problem who are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, this would be a tremendous shock.

Factory operating, people outside on picket line

Colgan:  Back at the Hyundai factory the to'ing and fro'ing between management and union is getting them nowhere.

10.15

There's no resolution in sight and there's word that police numbers are again swelling outside the compound.

Risking arrest, Kang Bong Jin has slipped out to meet with the families of union organisers who are already in jail - arrested during a dawn raid by police when the strike began.

10.33

Kang:  My own view and that of union leaders, is that to stop a police raid and to avoid violence and victims, we should reach an agreement, even if it takes time.  I hope there'll be some positive outcome tonight.

Pan in factory to Colgan speaking to camera

Colgan:  Last time I was here this factory was alive with activity.  They were churning out more than 5000 vehicles every day.  It's quite a shock to me to see this massive and efficient production line simply at a standstill, with the skeletons of cars still sitting on the rack. 

11.10

Not surprisingly, Hyundai is incensed at the loss of production - now estimated to be around 800 million US dollars.

Interview with Lee Chaang Woo

Super:

LEE CHANG WOO

Director, Hyundai Motor Co.

Lee:  Yeah, I'm feeling this situation would make a bad signal to investors and also other companies considering layoffs.  We lost already a lot of money so we're kind of in a difficult situation.  We know we cannot give in.

11.40

Colgan:  Do you think if Hyundai gives in, it will send a signal that unions have the power in Korea?

12.10

Lee:  Deep inside I feel that but on the surface I'm not in a position where I can say that kind of statement.

Colgan:  But you feel that's true?

Lee:  Yeah, I would say that. 

People sleeping on ground or sitting,

Colgan:  And for the future of Korea as a country, which is relying on investment and relying on business being able to restructure, do you think this is a bad sign?

12.33

Lee:  Yeah, I would say that.  I would say that.

Colgan:  Hyundai has become a symbol for Korea's conglomerates - big layoffs here will pave the way for other companies to do the same.  Hyundai is being pressured not to give in to the union.

12.55

The government has different ideas.  Frightened by the damage this one strike is doing to the economy and the country's image overseas, the South Korea Government has sent in its own mediators to pressure the two sides to compromise.

13.13

Man speaking, at press conference, interview with Lee Chang Woo

Man:  I don't know what the mediators have said to you reporters.  The fact is, we've been have difficulty.

Colgan:  Do you feel the mediators are more on the side of the union at the moment?

Lee:  Oh yes, I would say that.  They are more biased to the union.

13.43

Colgan:  So do you feel the company is being pressured to cave in?

13.51

Lee:  If I said that they would be very angry.

13.57

Colgan:  Is it true?

Lee:  Still I'm feeling, yeah, personally I'm feeling that kind of pressure.

Dark theatre, lit

FX:  Chanting

stage, Kang

walking across stage, speaking at microphone

Colgan:  By night fall, the union has walked out of negotiations.

14.13

Man:  I'm not expecting anything more from the company.  So I refuse to sit down with my head bowed anymore.

Colgan:  A bloody end to the impasse now seems inevitable to all those here - the government mediators are desperately pursuing both sides to avoid it.

14.30

Night time, exteriors, photo session

Finally in the early hours of the morning, both sides cave in to the mounting government pressure. In the photo opportunity after, only the government mediators are smiling.

14.44

Man walking into building, fire outside,

Union headquarters bore the marks next morning of what workers thought of the deal.  The union has accepted layoffs - a mere fraction of the number Hyundai wants but it sets an historic precedent.

Colgan on street speaking to camera, flags in front of building

Colgan:  Well, an agreement of sorts but one that many of the workers here say is a pact with the devil.  They've accused the union leadership of a sell out - not only of Hyundai workers but all Korean workers.

15.13

Colgan:  It paves the way for what big business wants - for the government to simply give companies like Hyundai free rein to become more competitive.

Interview with Lee Chang Woo

Cho:  All the government policy should concentrate on this point I think.

Super:

CHO NAM HONG

Korea Employers

Colgan:  So, social reform can wait?

Federation

Cho:  Ah, social reform can go together hand in hand but one step behind maybe.

15.48

Golf being played

Colgan:  It's comforting to see the economic turmoil hasn't penetrated here - the most exclusive golf club in Korea - the Konjiam Country Club - an hour out of Seoul.

16.02

It's a perfect day for golf and at 7.30 on a Sunday morning, there's a steady stream of golfers.

Intv with Cho Nam Hong on golf course

Cho:  Well, yes, we are trying to show our confidence in the economy to foreign investors so they could have some mind to invest in Korea.  They will be okay when they invest in Korea, I can guarantee it, I guarantee it.

Colgan:  It's business as usual.

Cho:  Usual, yes, yes.

Golf being played

Colgan:  Top company executives are out with the vice-chairman of the Korea Employers Federation Mr. Cho Nam Hong - one of the most vocal critics of the government's handling of the Hyundai dispute.

16.52

The government didn't go hard enough, he says.

Cho:  The government should endeavour for the strict enforcement of law.  Any intervention by political logic may or will make the situation worse. 

Colgan:  They want more of what they're used to - protection.

17.25

Leave it up the captains of industry to get South Korea out of trouble - after all, they helped make the country what it is today, a financial mess.

Interview with Khwarg

Khwarg:  I think big businesses are not really taking a fair share of the burden on themselves.  I think there's still too much pride in these people.  I mean, there's a lot of vested interest in what they've been doing. 

17.42

Super:

THAE KHWARG

Economic Analyst, Asset Korea

It's very hard for them to cut off a division or a company of a group which is being run by your brother or your cousin or your trusted employee for decades and so forth, so I think they're not really facing up to the problem at this stage.

Intv with Cho on golf course, golf being played, pan of golf course

Cho:  Big business is working hard and these days they are very much busy at some work, rearranging big deals.

18.13

Colgan:  They're doing deals alright, amongst themselves - and hoping to tough it out without too much hardship.

18.28

But unless the burden of change is shared more equally than it is now, the glue that's binding Koreans together in their economic fightback, will come unstuck. 

Heaven forbid, the homeless of Korea should occupy the greens of the Konjiam Country Club.

ENDS

18.56