Northern Ireland management at electronics firm Daewoo have initiated a campaign to halt plans for a reorganisation of the firm's Northern Ireland operation.

They are concerned that plans drawn up by the Korean government, which are due to be signed today , could lead to the factory being relocated elsewhere.

Under the terms of a proposed deal, Daewoo would exchange its electronics business for Samsung's motor division. Daewoo employs 1,000 people in Antrim and Carrickfergus. The management is joining a "stop the swap" campaign with management teams from Daewoo's operations in Europe, who are also against the proposal.

Mr Daniel McLornan, the company's director for Northern Ireland, points out that Samsung's long-term plans for the business may involve either selling it on to another electronics company, or moving its manufacturing operations out of Northern Ireland.

The prospect has alarmed the IDB, which said yesterday that it would be "doing all that we can to ensure that the outcome will be favourable to investments in Northern Ireland".

Mr McLornan has called on the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Mowlam, to intervene on behalf of the Northern Ireland workforce.

"I want to stress that this is not a normal commercial sale or acquisition. It is a very unusual corporate swap which could have a devastating effect on Daewoo," said Mr McLarnon.

Senior management from Daewoo UK, including its president and chief executive officer, are currently in South Korean attempting to have the Northern Ireland and British operations excluded from the deal.

In Seoul yesterday some 10,000 workers held a street protest about the deal which has been strongly supported by the South Korean president Mr Kim Dae Jung.

The workers rallied in front of the group's headquarters on Monday, vowing to fight the plan to swap Daewoo Electronics Co Ltd for unlisted Samsung Motors Inc.

Monday's rally followed a large but peaceful labour march by the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) through central Seoul on Saturday to protest what organisers said would be the loss of 300,000 jobs as conglomerates restructured.

The Daewoo workers, wearing red head-bands, shouted slogans and sang protest songs at Seoul Railway Station's square opposite the group's headquarters. They were surrounded by some 7,000 riot police, fully equipped with teargas and batons.

South Korea's government has been pushing for so-called big deals, including a swap of Daewoo Electronics for Samsung Group's infant car business, to lower excess capacity among the conglomerates or chaebol.