Putting Pressure on Management

Renault Samsung Motors unionists will go on strike at selected work sites.

The labor union of Renault Samsung Motors will go on strike only at some selected work sites in order to put pressure on the management.

The company’s labor union and management have failed to narrow differences since the breakdown of intensive negotiations held early March. Experts say that no deal between the labor and management will weigh heavily on the carmaker’s partners.

The labor union reported to the management that it would go on strike only at some designated spots from March 20 to 22, Renault Samsung said on March 19.


During the strike, workers will walk off their jobs at designated areas while taking turns. This is different from the union’s past strikes. The labor union has thus far stopped all the processes for eight hours a day -- four hours each by day-shift and night-shift workers.

First, the labor union plans to strike only at the assembly lines for eight hours on March 20 -- four hours each during daytime and nighttime. On March 21 and 22, workers will go on strike at some selected spots of assembly, painting, and framing lines.

"When the labor union goes on strike this way, stopping one work process at a time, the number of workers participating in the strike is one-quarter of the entire workforce. But the damage caused by it will be nearly as big as the damage incurred by a full-scale strike covering the whole plant,” a Renault Samsung official said. “If we add the hours of a partial strike on March 11 and the hours of the coming three-day strike, the total striking hours will add up to 192 hours and the company will suffer about 217 billion won in total damage.”

If the Renault Samsung Labor Union walks off three times this week, the utilization rate of the Busan plant will drop to 40 percent. If the utilization rate falls, it will lead Renault Samsung partners in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province to suspend their operations or shorten their operation hours.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution