Amid ongoing efforts to meet halfway to save cash-strapped GM Korea factory units,... labor workers staged rallies in central Seoul on Tuesday,... to protest the proposed shutdown of the U.S. automaker's four Korea-based plants.
Kim Mok-yeon reports.
More than a dozen members of GM Korea's labor union gathered in front of the firm's second largest shareholder, the Korea Development Bank in western Seoul on Tuesday, demanding the reversal of GM Korea's decision to shut down its Gunsan assembly plant.

"The shutdown of the factory crippled the entire city of Gunsan. We ask for the firm to take back its decision. We ask the government and the firm to engage in three-party talks with us, and discuss crucial problems such as management and layoffs."

Some are also staging rallies in front of the National Tax Service, the National Assembly and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
The protesters are demanding that these institutes allow the union to participate in the due diligence review, that they carry out a special tax audit, and that a new bill is created to prevent General Motors from leaving the country after taking advantage of the local unit.

"Despite the hurdles that remain, there are high hopes the two sides can find some common ground.
The labor union and GM Korea’s management are still attempting to thrash out a deal as they prepare to face their fourth round of wage negotiations on Wednesday."

If GM's headquarters decide not to accept the debt-for-equity-swap proposal for GM Korea's accumulated loan of some 2.8 billion U.S. dollars, the Korean unit of the carmaker will have to find other ways to make up the 2.1-billion-dollar shortfall by the end of April.
During the third round of wage negotiations,... GM Korea had proposed a wage freeze and cuts in bonuses and some other welfare benefits... in order to meet the conditions for its parent company to agree to produce new models in Korea,... but those demands were rejected by the union last week.
Meanwhile, Korea's finance minister Kim Dong-yeon said Tuesday that the government and GM Korea are currently in the process of deciding the right time and scope for due diligence, adding that the government will decide whether to financially support the firm once the investigation is complete.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.