Hyundai Motor union plans first full strike in 10 years as wage talks hit impasse
After staging partial strikes over the next week, the labor group will stage an eight-hour walkout, with an umbrella union encouraging other companies to join the protests.
The workers of the morning shift team of Hyundai Motors leave work early due to strike at the company's Ulsan factory, on Aug. 12.YONHAP
Hyundai Motor workers are preparing to bring production to a full stop for the first time in a decade as wage negotiations with management remained deadlocked on Tuesday.
Labor and management resumed wage talks after a roughly 40-day hiatus, but their 16th round of discussions failed to narrow their differences. The union said it will strike for five days starting Wednesday.
Workers will stage four-hour partial strikes by shift on Wednesday, Thursday, the coming Monday and Tuesday, followed by a full eight-hour strike on Friday.
It will mark the union’s first full-scale strike since collective bargaining negotiations in 2016.
Union leaders and other members plan to travel to Hyundai Motor’s headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Seocho District, southern Seoul, for a sit-in protest on Friday.
The Korean Metal Workers’ Union has also called on members at auto parts suppliers, Hyundai Motor Group affiliates and other automakers involved in bargaining to join a four-hour strike on Thursday and an eight-hour strike on Friday.
The Hyundai Motor union has demanded a 149,600 won ($106) increase in monthly base pay, excluding automatic seniority raises; a performance bonus equivalent to 30 percent of the company’s 2025 net profit; an increase in bonuses to 800 percent of monthly base pay; the full implementation of a monthly salary system; the reinstatement of union members dismissed for illegal acts committed during past union activities; and an extension of the company's mandatory retirement age.
Members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union hold a press conference outside the National Labor Relations Commission at the government complex in Sejong, on Aug. 10.NEWS1
Three demands remain major sticking points: the bonus increase, the reinstatement of dismissed union members and the retirement age extension.
Management argues that the three issues do not belong in wage negotiations. The company also says there are no grounds to reinstate union members who were lawfully dismissed and that any extension of the retirement age should come only after a broader social consensus.
The union has staged a total of 44 hours of strikes since negotiations began this year. As morning and afternoon shifts take turns walking out, Hyundai Motor’s production lines have ground to a halt for a total of 36 hours.
Industry estimates put the resulting production losses at around 22.8 billion won, based on average vehicle prices and the number of vehicles each plant produces per hour.
Members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union hold a press conference outside the National Labor Relations Commission at the government complex in Sejong, on Aug. 10.YONHAP
Labor tensions are also rising at Posco.
The National Labor Relations Commission ended mediation between Posco’s management and its union on Tuesday after the two sides failed to bridge their differences in wage negotiations. The decision gives the union the legal right to take industrial action, such as a strike.
The union, however, has decided not to walk out immediately, and labor and management will continue negotiations.
A strike would be the first at Posco since the steelmaker was founded in 1968.
Members of the Posco's labor union attend a final mediation session on collective bargaining at the National Labor Relations Commission in Sejong on Aug. 18.YONHAP
The Posco union also secured the right to strike in 2024 but ultimately reached an agreement on wages and working conditions through further negotiations without staging a walkout.
The union is demanding a 7.1 percent increase in monthly base pay, an incentive payment equivalent to 600 percent of base pay, 50 shares of company stock and holiday bonuses equivalent to 200 percent of base pay.
Management has proposed a 1.2 percent increase in base pay if the company meets its operating profit target for 2026, a 2 million won incentive, expanded individual rewards and special promotions, improved terms for company-backed housing loans and an additional 100,000 won in fuel vouchers for each of the Lunar New Year and Chuseok harvest festival holidays.
BY KO SUK-HYUN [lee.jiwon10@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
