According to the two sides on the 24th, they held a second mediation meeting on the 2026 wage negotiations at the National Labor Relations Commission starting at 1 p.m. that day. However, as labor and management remained deadlocked during the meeting, the commission decided to suspend mediation. The two sides had also held a first mediation meeting on the 20th.
With mediation suspended, the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union secured the right to industrial action, allowing it to legally strike. The union plans to hold a vote among its members on whether to take industrial action from the 25th to the 27th. On the same days, the unions of HD Hyundai Electric and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, along with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, will simultaneously conduct their respective member votes.
Labor and management at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries held 15 rounds of talks after their first meeting in June but struggled to reach an agreement. The key issues are the size of the wage increase and profit-sharing. The union is demanding a base pay increase (149,600 won), a 100% increase in bonuses, and the distribution of at least 30% of operating profit as performance pay. The HD Hyundai Samho union is also calling for institutionalizing performance pay funding at around 30% of operating profit.
Management, on the other hand, says it is difficult to accept these demands given industry volatility and investment burdens. In particular, if the performance-pay demands were accepted, HD Hyundai would have to set aside a total of about 1 trillion won as a performance-pay fund across HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho.
Having secured the legal right to industrial action, the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union is expected to move into strike preparations following the member vote. Last year, the union also began with a partial strike in September and staged a general strike for the first time in about four years. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, which had been going through the pains of the strike, produced a final tentative agreement between labor and management on the 17th of that month and reached a dramatic settlement on the 19th.
