Labor Strife at HHI and DSME
Unionized Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) workers initiated this year’s second strike on April 23. In this company, this year’s collective bargaining and wage negotiations have already failed twice and the workers are calling for additional negotiations.
An unusual point is that the union is divided into those in favor of and skeptical about the strike and office workers are taking collective action separately yet simultaneously. The office workers’ demands include office arrival after 08:00 and PC turn-off at 17:00.
In the meantime, unionized Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) workers are raising their voice against the sale of their company to HHI scheduled for late this year. The workers called for South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyung-soo to cancel the plan on April 15. They are going to stage a rally in front of his office on April 29 if their demand is rejected.
The DSME union went on an all-out strike in 2019 as well, when its president and CEO made a statement in favor of the sale. At present, the DSME-HHI combination is yet to be examined in the European Union, South Korea and Japan.