Hyundai Labor Union Announces Strike

All divisions of Hyundai Motors’ labor union will go on strike, including production, sales, and maintenance. Accordingly, the labor-management disputes of the company will turn into an all-out, protracted strike that will cause greater inconvenience to consumers.

The union said on July 12 that it will launch a 6-hour strike on July 13 and start an all-out strike on July 14 in the sales and maintenance divisions which had been on strike for limited hours on and off.

The manufacturing division has been on strike for two to eight hours out of 20 working hours a day (including day and night shifts and extra work) but will go on a strike for 12 hours or 60 percent of all working hours on July 12 and 14 hours or 70 percent of all working hours on July 14.

If a sales division joins an all-out strike, approximately 2,000 to 2,500 cars will not be delivered. In the case of a maintenance division, delayed repair will lead to consumer complaints especially at a time when consumers want their cars to use on vacation.

Damages stemming from the strike have been growing. The management said, “Production disruption has cost us 46,954 cars or 645.9 billion won in sales loss so far.” The damage is even bigger than that of the strike in 2004, 263.1 billion won, and that of the strike in 2005, 579.5 billion won.”

The unionized workers are insisting on turning the current hourly salary into monthly salary and introducing the single payroll as well as a pay raise of an additional 125,524 won (9.1 percent of the current wage). Meanwhile, Kia Motors’ unionized workers in the branches and factories nationwide voted for a strike with 71 percent support of the total 7,750 votes and decided to deny overtime work from July 13. The subsequent schedules will be determined by the labor committee after holding meetings