The Hyundai Motor union (the Hyundai Motor branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union) entered a full-scale strike today (August 21) due to setbacks in this year's wage negotiations.

This marks the first time in 10 years, since the 2016 collective bargaining, that the Hyundai Motor union has staged an 8-hour full-scale strike for the day.

In accordance with the union's full-scale strike guideline today, morning-shift technical (production) workers, who normally begin work at 6:45 AM, did not report to work at all.

The afternoon shift, which starts work at 3:30 PM, will also not report to work.

Consequently, all production lines at the Ulsan, Jeonju, and Asan plants will come to a complete halt for the entire day.

Because both the morning and afternoon shifts are striking for 8 hours each, the actual production lines will be suspended for 16 hours today.

Not only production workers but also office workers are participating, bringing the total number of participating union members to approximately 39,000.

Since the initial collective bargaining session on May 6 this year, the union has intermittently staged partial strikes lasting 2 to 6 hours to pressure management, but this is the first time it has staged an 8-hour strike.

Furthermore, this marks the first full-scale strike in 10 years since a one-day full-scale strike was held during the wage negotiations on September 26, 2016.

To directly pressure the company today, union leadership and delegates will visit the Hyundai Motor Group headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, to participate in the "Automotive Industry Joint Strike Rally" hosted by the Korean Metal Workers' Union.

Considering that Hyundai Motor produces approximately 460 vehicles per hour, the automotive industry estimates that cumulative production disruptions will reach 55,200 vehicles, with cumulative sales losses exceeding 2.3 trillion won based on the selling price per vehicle.

With the union having already announced partial strikes of 4 hours each for August 24 to 25, disruptions are expected to accumulate further.

The problem is that the deadlock in this year's wage negotiations is persisting.

Following their failure to reach an agreement in the 15th round of negotiations, labor and management resumed talks on August 18 for the first time in about 40 days, but they likewise failed to narrow their differences.

Union Branch Head Lee Jong-chol stated, "We will resume negotiations only when an advanced negotiation proposal is presented," leaving it undecided when labor and management representatives will meet again.

The year Hyundai Motor's union staged the most strikes in the past decade was 2016, when the strike time based on the union standard reached 106 hours and production disruptions based on the production lines reached 212 hours.

The three main issues between labor and management this year are a 50% increase in bonuses, the reinstatement of union members dismissed for illegal activities during past union activities, and the extension of the retirement age.

These are agendas that the union demanded from management separately from wage increases in this year's wage negotiations.

Management has judged that these agendas are unrelated to this year's wage negotiations, that there is no justification to reinstate legally dismissed union members, and that it is not easy for labor and management to first conclude on a retirement age extension that should be discussed by the political circle first.

However, the union demands that bonuses be increased because the proportion of fixed wages, such as base salary, among the wages received by members is only 54.8%, inevitably forcing them to suffer from overtime and special work to maintain a living wage.

Their stance is that extending the retirement age has been achieved through past agreements between labor and management, and that reinstating dismissed workers is essential to build trust in labor-management relations.

The union stated, "The company's internal reserves as of last year stood at 101.3 trillion won, which is not a level incapable of absorbing the costs resulting from bonus increases and the extension of the retirement age."

On the other hand, the company's attitude is that it cannot accept the union's demands without legal grounds or rational criteria.

Accordingly, although working-level staff have been communicating with each other since official negotiations between labor and management were cut off, it is known that not a single step of progress has been made.

If the company does not present a new negotiation proposal, the union plans to hold the Central Disputes Countermeasure Committee on August 25 to discuss additional strike actions.

(Photo: Yonhap News)