Renewed Hyundai Labor Talks Break Down; Union Doubles Strike Action

Hyundai’s union officials in South Korea were not surprised there were no breakthroughs in the resumed labor contract negotiations Aug. 22, other than some minor responses, a source tells WardsAuto.

With their demands unmet, plant workers refused to perform their jobs during one hour of overtime on Thursday in Korea.

Union officials now are planning to double up on partial strikes for Friday and Monday. Workers will put down tools for four hours on each of two shifts, which will mean a production loss of 16 hours of output.

Additionally, the union is forbidding members to work on the two scheduled weekend shifts, depriving Hyundai of another 32 hours of output, ratcheting up possible lost production time to a total of 48 hours.

The labor talks fell through one day after Hyundai-Kia Chairman Chung Mong-koo met with U.S. Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia at the Hyundai Motor Group global headquarters in Seoul. Some analysts believe Deal is trying to entice Chung to expand Kia’s operations at its plant in West Point, GA.

Kia’s contract talks were to resume Aug. 23 (today in Korea), after workers downed tools for two hours on two shifts on Thursday.

The Kia union also continues to refuse to work Saturdays, which officials claim is not a strike action but a dispute over weekend schedules, which has been ongoing since July.

The weekend overtime refusal at all three of Kia’s plants had stayed in effect throughout 10 rounds of labor negotiations that began on July 2.

Both the Hyundai and Kia branches of the Korea Metal Workers Union broke off negotiations for new collective-bargaining agreements last week, saying no progress had been made despite more than two months of meetings. However, the unions and management later reached an agreement to restart talks Aug. 22.

The Hyundai branch of the KMWU is calling for a wage increase of 130,498 won ($117) per month, profit sharing of 30% of Hyundai’s 2012 net profits and renewal of the existing collective-bargaining agreement, with 43 revisions.