After returning from the summer vacation, the Hyundai Motor(005380) labor union (Metal Workers' Union Hyundai Motor branch) is launching an additional strike. It is the fourth strike this year, with a higher intensity than before. Hyundai Motor has major new model launches scheduled for the second half, so production disruptions are expected to cause significant damage.
On the 11th, the Hyundai Motor union held a central strike countermeasures committee meeting and decided on a partial strike for four days from the 12th to the 18th. On the 12th–13th, it will stage a four-hour partial strike, and on the 14th and 18th, it will conduct a six-hour partial strike. Previously, it had carried out two- to four-hour partial strikes, increasing the intensity this time.
The union launched its first industrial action of the year with a two-hour strike per shift from the 13th to the 15th of last month, and from the 20th to the 22nd of the same month it extended the strike time to four hours. It then held four-hour strikes for three days from the 29th to the 31st, just before the summer vacation. The refusal of overtime and weekend work is also being maintained.
The strike is occurring as labor and management struggle to bridge differences in this year's wage and collective bargaining talks. The union is demanding the reinstatement of dismissed workers, a prior agreement before the legalization of extending the retirement age, and a 50% increase in bonuses, but management is holding to the position that it cannot accept those demands.
As a result, this year's Hyundai Motor wage and collective bargaining talks have been unable to even set additional negotiation dates since the 15th round on the 8th of last month. In the last main talks, management proposed raising the base salary by 89,000 won, a performance bonus of 350% plus 10 million won, and the grant of 15 shares.
Management also conveyed that if the union withdraws demands it cannot accept, it would make additional proposals on wages and performance bonuses. The union is demanding a base salary increase of 149,600 won (excluding step increases) and a performance bonus equal to 30% of the previous year's net income. It is also demanding the introduction of a 4.5-day workweek.
As the Hyundai Motor union's strike drags on, losses from production disruptions are also growing. As of last month, production losses due to the strike amount to about 42,000 vehicles. Hyundai Motor's revenue loss is estimated at 1.12 trillion won.
New model launches scheduled by Hyundai Motor are also inevitably being disrupted. Immediately, production of the Tucson new pilot (test) model, which was to be put on the Ulsan plant's production line at the end of last month, has been blocked. The full-change Tucson model, which was expected to launch as early as this month, as well as the mid-size SUV Santa Fe facelift that had been mentioned for release within the year, have both become uncertain.
At the strike countermeasures committee meeting the same day, the Hyundai Motor union also maintained its strike guidelines, saying it would "reorganize the momentum for struggle after the summer vacation, deploy strikes to pressure management, and move forward unwaveringly to win the demands."