Giving Labor Union the Right to Strike

A majority of unionized workers of GM Korea has voted for strike action.

A majority of unionized workers of GM Korea has voted for strike action, paving the way for the labor union of the struggling automaker to go on strike legally when the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) fails to resolve a dispute between the management and union through arbitration. 

The labor union of GM Korea held a strike vote as wage and collective bargaining negotiations are being delayed.

It filed a request for arbitration with the NLRC, and a decision is due out on June 24.

The union held a vote for 8,055 unionized workers, excluding those from its new subsidiary, GM Technical Center Korea (GMTCK), on June 19 to 20, and 74.5 percent of them voted for the strike.

The vote was participated in by 6,935 unionized workers and showed a turnout of 84.9 percent. Only 785 union members voted against strike action.

As more than 50 percent of unionized workers voted in favor, whether GM Korea’s labor union will secure the right to strike depends on the result of dispute mediation by the NLRC.

If the labor union actually goes on strike following the NLRC’s decision to stop the arbitration process, GM Korea will face a strike risk once again in six months since last December.


The labor union says it is preparing for strike due to the postponement of the firm’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations. It said that the company did not attend the negotiations six times since May 30. The management refused to attend the wage and collective bargaining negotiations, requesting a change of a place for negotiation by reason of security

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