Hyundai Motor union to stage first walkout in five years

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Hyundai Motor union to stage first walkout in five years

Published: 22 Jun. 2023, 17:16

Hyundai Motor’s labor union and management initiate their annual wage talks on June 13. [YONHAP]

Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor will stage a walkout for the first time in five years.

The labor union said Thursday that employees in the morning and afternoon shifts will each go on strike for two hours on July 12.

"The partial walkout is an act of joining the general strike planned by the Korean Metal Workers' Union calling on President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down from office," the union said Thursday.

The walkout will be the first since 2018.

The union did not stage a walkout in 2019 as a trade dispute with Japan hampered the carmaker’s sales. It was the first time for the union, with a history of militancy, to agree on a wage deal without a walkout in eight years. In 2020, 2021 and last year, Covid-19 factored into no-walkout wage deals.

When the Korean Metal Workers' Union held its general walkout last month, Hyundai's labor union did not participate. Kia joined it with an eight-hour partial walkout.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor’s labor union and the company's management initiated annual wage talks on June 13 at its Ulsan plant.

The union demanded a base monthly pay raise of 184,900 won ($143), up 71 percent from last year's raise of 108,000 won, and 30 percent of last year’s operating profit as incentives.

It also demanded that the automaker offer a 25 percent discount on vehicles to all employees who retire from Hyundai regardless of years of service. Until now, the benefit is offered to retirees who worked for 25 years or longer.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]