Hyundai Motor’s Strike
Hyundai Motor Company labor union members held a meeting on October 4 and decided to put their strike on hold and have talks with the management for this week.
Earlier on the same day, the top management of the company sent a letter to the labor union, saying, “The ongoing strike and delay in this year’s wage negotiations have caused members of the Korea Federation of SMEs to mention boycott and the government to take emergency arbitration into account.” It went on to say, “Under the circumstances, we need to meet each other halfway by any means and wrap up our negotiations in a voluntary way by resuming our talks late this week.”
At their negotiation on September 24, both sides reached a temporary agreement on an increase of 58,000 won in monthly pay and payment of a bonus of 350% of the monthly pay plus 3.3 million won along with a 200,000 won gift voucher and 10 shares. However, 78.05% of the union members voted down the agreement later. Then, the management suggested an increase of 70,000 won in monthly pay along with some other incentives but the union members refused to accept the conditions again. They are planning to decide on the resumption of the strike at their meeting on October 11.
The strike by the labor union, in the meantime, has led to a 20% year-on-year decline in the company’s domestic sales and export last month. The automaker announced on October 4 that it sold 41,548 and 345,754 cars in the South Korean and overseas markets last month, respectively. The combined amount is 2% less than a year ago.