The ICEM expressed satisfaction today that the Kumho Tyre subsidiary of Kumho Asiana Group lifted its eight-day lockout on 3,400 rubber workers, members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU). Korea’s second biggest tyre maker locked out workers on 25 March at factories in Gwungju and Gokseong following a one-day warning strike.

The lockout ended at 14h30 today. The company rescinded its demand that workers sign individual work agreements promising not to engage in further work stoppages. In return for lifting the lockout, the Kumho Tyre Workers’ Union said it would end its industrial actions in front of the two plants.

The union executed the warning strike on 25 March because Kumho refused to engage in dialogue over relevant issues in the middle of a two-year labour agreement. Those issues included giving workplace union leaders the right to maintain their union representation duties while on the job, revisions to severance packages, and health factors inside the factories. (See ICEM report from 28 March.)

In lifting the lockout, the Kumho Tyre Workers’ Union recognised the company’s fragile financial and market situation. The ICEM is encouraged that the two sides engaged in meaningful dialogue to end the mid-term dispute.