The Hyundai Motor labor union again warned, saying "if the company takes a one-way approach, we will overturn the table," and once more revealed concerns about an employment crisis from the introduction of robots on production lines.
On the 29th, the Hyundai Motor union said in a newsletter, "Judging from management's recent moves, they will first shift volumes to overseas plants where robot deployment is possible," adding, "With the remaining domestic volumes, they will try to fit the puzzle, and for the final empty slot, they are likely to idle a plant."
It added, "It is as clear as day that the space will be filled by a new plant where robot deployment is possible or automation is maximized."
The union said that at Hyundai Motor Group's top strategy meeting, the Global Leaders Forum (GLF), on the 7th, management discussed DF247, an unmanned factory project, and argued, "Management is trying to realize a dream factory that can operate solely with artificial intelligence (AI)-based robots, excluding people from the production floor." DF247 means the plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week even with the lights off, and is the intelligent autonomous factory concept that Hyundai Motor Group is pursuing.
The union strongly expressed anxiety that robots could replace human jobs. The union criticized, "Now humans make robots, and those robots make robots, replacing all jobs," adding, "There is no place for people anywhere. The balance of consumption and supply will break, and the vicious cycle of the South Korean economy will continue."
In response to some views that label unions opposing robot adoption as "selfish," it asked, "Are we supposed to stay silent as robots come in without alternatives and as volumes are siphoned off?"
On the 22nd, the Hyundai Motor union also used a newsletter to mention the introduction of the mass-production humanoid robot "Atlas" at overseas plants and protested, saying, "Without labor-management agreement, not a single robot can enter the production floor."