The labor union at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180) has voted to authorize industrial action after failing to reach agreement with management in this year's wage and collective bargaining talks.
The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union held a ballot on the 27th among its 8,127 members, and 95.93% of those who cast votes — 5,379 members — backed industrial action, according to the company and the union. Another 219 voted against and nine abstained.
The result gives the union the legal right to strike. The two sides have met 17 times since opening talks in June without narrowing their differences. A mediation request the union filed with the National Labor Relations Commission also failed to produce an agreement over two sessions.
The two sides will attempt another breakthrough at an 18th round of main negotiations scheduled for the 1st of next month. If those talks also collapse, the union is expected to begin partial walkouts to step up pressure on the company. Should intensive negotiations that follow remain deadlocked, a full-scale strike cannot be ruled out.
The central sticking points are the size of the pay increase and profit sharing. The union is demanding a 149,600 won increase in base pay and a 100% rise in bonuses, along with the distribution of at least 30% of operating profit as performance pay. The union at HD Hyundai Samho is also pressing for roughly 30% of operating profit to be written into company rules as a source of performance pay.
Management says the demands are difficult to accept given volatility in the industry and the burden of investment. Accepting the performance pay demand would require HD Hyundai to set aside about 1 trillion won in total for HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho combined.
Responding to the ballot result, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said it would "engage in negotiations in good faith to narrow the gap between labor and management."
