Workers at General Motors’ troubled South Korean operations learned this week that no one will receive a bonus due to what Bloomberg summarized as a “cash crisis.” Naturally, a small contingent responded by proceeding to completely trash their CEO’s office.
A sped-up minute-long clip posted on YouTube shows a dozen employees marching into their CEO’s office, pushing a desk out(????), and then commencing an impressive display that took out basically everything in the room.
The way the worker at the 0:12 mark drop kicks a plant should spiritually move you.
Bloomberg couldn’t reach the union representing the righteous workers, but a GM Korea spokesperson helpfully confirmed to the news outlet that workers were protesting the no-bonus decision and had “urged the CEO to resign.” No shit.
If you are confused as to why three guys were brought along to seemingly just stand around while everyone else just wrecks a dude’s office, we should admonish you for your ignorance, as they were clearly there for SOLIDARITY.
GM later confirmed to Bloomberg that a “violent incident” occurred in the office, which is one way to describe how a group of workers responded to learning their particular unit of the automaker—which increased its total cash reservers by $2.69 billion in 2017—couldn’t issue bonuses by summarily trashing their CEO’s office. This comes amid a period where GM’s threatening to leave the country entirely, unless it receives serious concessions from the South Korean government and the union.
Here’s GM’s entire statement, which confirms no one was injured amid the alleged violence beyond the CEO’s collection of inanimate objects and a helpless plant:
There was a violent incident at GMK’s executive offices in Bupyeong that resulted in significant damage to company property. Thankfully, no GMK employees were injured during the incident. This violent action presents an unacceptable threat to the ongoing safety and security of GMK employees, particularly since the alleged perpetrators of this action are still unlawfully occupying the facility. GM respects the right of the labor union to protest, but will not tolerate this behavior, so the company is referring this incident to the local police and the Incheon Prosecutors Office, with an intent to file charges.
It’s unclear if the workers are still occupying the office, nor how soon the foliage will be replaced. We’ll update the post if we get more.