Contract workers at GM Korea are staging a sit-in over management’s refusal to follow through with government orders to hire them directly. 

According to representatives of the workers at the Korean affiliate of U.S. automaker General Motors, around 40 nonregular workers occupied the office of GM Korea President and CEO Kaher Kazem at the company’s plant in Bupyeong District, Incheon, at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, and have been staging a rally there since then. 

They are calling for dialogue with management over directly hiring nonregular workers and rehiring those who have been let go.

Earlier, the Labor Ministry found that the company violated the law on the protection of nonregular workers at its factory in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, and ordered it to directly hire 774 subcontractors. 

The company, however, is refusing to follow the order, citing its fiscal condition and risks associated with paying up to nearly seven-point-seven billion won in fines.