HANKOOK TIRE FIRE CAUSES MASS LAYOFF

[Anchor Lead]

Since the fire at Hankook Tire's plant no.2 back in March, tire production has plummeted, leading to the departure of over 260 employees from subcontractors. About 60 Hankook Tire employees also left the company on Labor Day.

[Pkg]

A worker at Hankook Tire's subcontractor was promoted to unit supervisor and transferred to plant No. 2 not too long ago. But he was served a dismissal notice recently. Plant No. 2's tire production plunged to a quarter of its previous level after the factory was completely destroyed by a fire. This caused subcontractors' workload to fall as well.

[Soundbite] (Hankook Tire subcontractor worker A (VOICE MODIFIED)) : "I told my children that I'll be taking a few days off, but they seemed to be confused. So I pretend to go to work in the evening. I don't think I can tell them the truth."

The fire in March caused two out of seven Hankook Tire subcontractors to close down their businesses. Another worker from another subcontractor, who had worked 10 years at the Daejeon plant, also lost his job last month.

[Soundbite] (Hankook Tire subcontractor worker B (VOICE MODIFIED)) : "I was told to resign. There's no other place where I can use my skills."

Roughly 260 workers from Hankook Tire subcontractors lost their jobs through layoff or forced resignation within 50 days following the fire. The mass layoff also spread to Hankook Tire itself. The firm recently notified that only about 550 out of some 800 of its production workers will be transferred to an overseas plant. That means about 250 workers became eligible for early retirement. Sixty of them have left the company already.

[Soundbite] Kim Dae-seok(Hankook Tire Employee) : "I'm angry that they didn't even apologize to the workers. That shows what the company thinks of its employees."

Hankook Tire claims it never unilaterally transferred workers or urged early retirement, adding that layoffs at subcontractors have nothing to do with the original contractor.