ULSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(ULSAN=Yonhap News) Union workers at South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. went on partial strike Tuesday after making no headway on the key standard wage issue that has become a sticking point in this year's collective bargaining agreement talks.

Hyundai Motor Co.'s union said 13,000 workers on the daytime shift at the main Ulsan plant walked out for two hours, while 10,000 workers assigned to the second night shift will do the same, that will stop production from 10:10 p.m. onwards.

Besides Ulsan, unionists at the carmaker's plants in Jeonju and Asan along with workers at the Namyang R&D Center each walked out for two hours earlier in the day.

Union leaders said the partial strike will be enforced for four days.

The latest walkout comes after workers walked off the assembly line three times last month and refused to do overtime work.

The strife caused Hyundai Motor's to claim missed production of 32,400 vehicles worth 710 billion won (US$683 million).

Labor and management started holding wage talks on June 3, yet progress has been held up due to the standard wage issue regarding bonuses.

South Korea's top court made a general ruling late last year that said all types of bonuses, if given uniformly and regularly to workers, must be viewed as being part of standard pay. Such a move could lead to a rise in overtime allowances and severance pay, which businesses argued would hurt their competitiveness.

Union leaders maintain that the company must follow the Supreme Court's ruling without any further delay, although this stance is not shared by management.

Hyundai's management, on the other hand, countered that while it gave workers bonuses in the past, the way they were given did not meet the Supreme Court's criteria since they were not given unconditionally.

It also said that any decision on expanding standard wage to include bonuses, should only be made after the lower courts have made a ruling that reflects specific bonus rules of the carmaker.

The company proposed raising monthly wages by 91,000 won and said it could pay a 300 percent bonus and 5 million won extra to workers to reflect their contributions to the carmaker. In addition, it proposed giving another 120 percent bonus if workers met quality control targets set for this year and agreed to extend the retirement age to 60 from 58 at present.

In a statement, the flagship company of Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth largest automotive conglomerate in terms of sales, said engaging in a strike is not the right way to resolve differences.

It argued that making unacceptable demands related to standard wages that can be handled in court only delays wage talks and are unrealistic.

yonngong@yna.co.kr

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