The Hyundai Heavy Industries branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union will begin a partial strike after failing to reach an agreement with management in wage and collective bargaining talks.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180) labor and management failed to reach a deal in their 18th main bargaining session on the 1st, after the union rejected an offer put forward by the company, industry sources said. The union plans to begin on the 2nd the partial strike it approved on the 27th of last month.
The company's offer included a 105,000 won monthly increase in base pay, including 35,000 won in seniority-based raises, along with 10 million won and a bonus equal to 200% of base pay plus performance-based pay outside of base wages. It was the company's first offer since bargaining began this year. The union rejected it, demanding a 149,600 won monthly increase in base pay excluding seniority-based raises, a 100% increase in bonuses, sharing of at least 30% of operating profit, the inclusion of vacation and celebratory allowances in ordinary wages, and new hiring.
With the talks broken down, the union will stage a seven-hour partial strike starting on the 2nd involving executive officers, bargaining committee members and delegates. Partial strikes will then rotate among affiliated units through the 10th, and on the 15th all union members will join a four-hour partial strike. Operations will run normally on the 3rd and the 7th.
Although the partial strike will go ahead, negotiations have not been terminated. Because the offer was a first proposal, further talks are expected in which the company will present a follow-up offer based on any counterproposal from the union.
The union approved the strike on the 27th of last month, with 66.18% of eligible members voting in favor in a ballot on industrial action. Of 8,127 total members, 5,607 cast ballots and 5,379 voted in favor. The union then convened its central strike committee on the 28th and set the strike to begin on the 2nd of this month.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries labor and management concluded collective bargaining without a strike in 2022 for the first time in nine years, but strikes resumed the following year in 2023 and have continued every year since, including this year.
