SOUTH Korean workers walked out for a 24-hour general strike on Wednesday, demanding reform to the country’s restrictive labour laws and economic reform that ends the influence of big business.

Members of the Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) joined the strike calling for the guarantee of basic rights to join a trade union, to negotiate terms and conditions and take collective action.

Almost 130,000 KMWU workers across 109 workplaces joined the action as they demanded economic democracy and an end to the dominance of industrial companies known as chaebols over the country’s economy.

Car workers at Hyundai Motors, Kia Motors, General Motors (GM), shipyard workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine and auto parts workers at Hyundai Mobis and other major components workers went on strike for four hours or more.

Despite a promise to end precarious employment and create 500,000 jobs by cutting working hours, President Moon Jae In’s flexible working law means companies can force workers to work 80 hours a week with no overtime payments.

“This national strike is the result of workers’ disappointment and plummeting confidence in the government,” a KMWU statement said.