Seoul, Nov 23: No end is in sight for the strike at Nestle Korea Co., a drawn-out drama seen here as exemplifying labour problems faced by foreign firms operating in South Korea. The five-month-old dispute caught international attention when seven representatives from the 460-member union arrived in Geneva last week to stage a sit-in in front of the Swiss-based food and beverage giant's offices.
"They will stage an indefinite sit-in there until we win a final victory in this struggle against Nestle Korea's attempts to crush the union," union president Jeon Taek-Soo told.
Backing the Korean strikers, the Geneva-based International Union of Food Workers (IUF) has accused the Swiss multinational of threatening to leave South Korea rather than engage in negotiations in breach of employment principles of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The OECD, of which South Korea is a member, has agreed to step in at the IUF's behest and provide negotiating facilities.
Bureau Report