The Korean Metal Workers' Union will launch a nationwide general strike on the 15th. With major unions in the auto industry, including Hyundai Motor Group and GM Korea, joining in unison, a large number of auto plants across the country are set to grind to a halt that day. This makes production disruptions of thousands of vehicles inevitable. If the strike drags on, observers note that, beyond poor results, delays in exports could erode credibility and inevitably narrow Korea's position in the global market.
The Metal Workers' Union said about 79,000 members who have secured the right to strike will launch a strike totaling more than eight hours that day (four hours per shift for shift workers). Adding roughly 6,000 members without strike rights who will join the action by using general meetings and training hours, the union claims a total of about 85,000 members will participate in this strike. They plan to hold strike rallies in each region that day, and in Seoul they will join the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) general strike rally at Gwanghwamun Station in Jongno District at 3 p.m.
With the full-scale strike by the Metal Workers' Union that day, auto and parts plants nationwide affiliated with it will shut down operations all at once. Representing the auto industry, Hyundai Motor, along with Kia and GM Korea, will directly take part in the Seoul strike rally. Unions at key Hyundai Motor Group affiliates are also set to join. In Daejeon and North Chungcheong, Hyundai Mobis' Chungju plant, and in North Jeolla, the area in front of Hyundai Motor's Jeonju plant, have each been chosen as regional rally sites.
The Metal Workers' Union is demanding employment and human rights protections when introducing artificial intelligence (AI), as well as winning cross-company and prime-contractor bargaining, base pay increases, and retirement age extensions. The Hyundai Motor union is calling for a performance bonus equal to 30% of the previous year's net profit, a 149,600-won increase in base pay, and an 800% increase in bonuses, while the GM Korea union is demanding a 30 million-won performance bonus per person, a 149,600-won increase in base pay, and a plan to allocate new models.
A full-scale strike can only exacerbate production disruptions. The Hyundai Motor union is striking a total of 12 hours over three days from the 13th through that day. This is expected to cause production disruptions of around 5,000 vehicles and mid-200 billion won in revenue losses. On that day alone, roughly 1,700 vehicles will not be built on time.
The GM Korea union will begin a partial strike of eight hours per day for two days starting that day. During the 2024 strike, estimates indicated that an eight-hour daily plant stoppage would cause production disruptions of about 1,000 vehicles. Considering GM Korea's domestic sales last month were 1,049 units, the loss from one day of striking matches the number of vehicles sold in the domestic market over an entire month.
The problem is that this strike may be only the beginning. Each union is signaling it will not hesitate to go to full-scale confrontation. The Hyundai Motor union said the previous day, "A partial strike is guidance set from a long-term perspective," and added, "We will raise the level of the strike at the next dispute countermeasures committee." Ahn Gyu-baek, the GM Korea union leader, likewise reportedly said, after talks collapsed the previous day, "We will show the anger on the shop floor as it is." Analysts say all of them have been influenced by labor talks at semiconductor companies, where large performance bonuses were awarded.
A prolonged strike leads directly to weaker competitiveness. Hyundai Motor has been suffering from sluggish sales this year, and as a way to break through, Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon said last month, "This year, with a favorable new model cycle for the Grandeur and Avante, we have competitiveness compared with rivals." In response, a Hyundai Motor union member said, "Management likely aimed for a rebound in results with new model launches in the second half, but at this rate, mass-production schedules will be pushed back one after another."
GM Korea exports 97% to the United States and elsewhere, and if the strike continues, it will be difficult to meet the volumes required by General Motors in the United States on time. An auto industry official said, "This will lead to a decline in trust in the global market and inevitably deal a fatal blow to the allocation of new models in the future and to the long-term export front."