The first showdown began on July 2 when the company said publicly that it would move two production lines out of six in Suwon to a Shandong Province location. Chung Duk-hwa, Pilkor Electronics labor union head, said, "Last year when rumors of relocation first appeared, the management denied categorically that that would never happen but now it turned out true. According to the collective bargaining rule, the management was supposed to notify important matters like production base relocation 60 days prior to the decision and negotiate with the union in good faith."

 

Lee Chang-geun, the company's senior manager in charge of management planning, said, "Normally it takes more than three months to get approval for inbound production facility relocation from the Chinese government. As the actual move will take place by November or December, we notified the union sufficiently early."

 

Pilkor Electronics was established in June 1974 as Philips Korea. Renamed as Pilkor in February 1994, it has since produced condensers, resistors, and other electronic parts. Last year's sales revenue was 139.3 billion won, with operating and net profit reaching 8.3 billion won and 4.2 billion won, respectively.