Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's No. 1 carmaker, launched a partial strike Monday in protest against the company's decision to slash year-end bonus payments, despite repeated calls from business and political circles to scrap the walkout.
Day and night shift workers at plants in Ulsan, Jeonju and Asan walked out for four hours beginning at 1:00 p.m, the 43,000-member union said. They will also stop working for four hours on Tuesday, and for six hours on Wednesday, it said.
The union said it wants to negotiate with management to resolve the dispute, but the company stands firm against accepting the labor union's demand for the full bonus payment, saying that the issue is not a subject for negotiation.
Shares of Hyundai Motor closed at 64,100 won on the local bourse, up 0.31 percent from Friday's close, after falling as low as to 63,600 won. The stock has fallen 31 percent over the past 12 months.
The latest trouble began on New Year's Day when angry union leaders protested the company's decision to slash year-end bonuses by a third.
Previously, Hyundai said it would pay each employee 100 percent of his or her monthly salary as a year-end bonus, instead of 150 percent, because the workers failed to meet production targets last year. The bonus cut was in line with an agreement with the union, Hyundai said.
But the decision was rejected by the union, which claims the decision to cut bonuses was made unilaterally by Hyundai's executives to hide their management failures.
Union leader Park Yu-ki said in a meeting with reporters that management is attempting to "stifle the labor union," which he says is now forcing unionized workers to take action.
"If management continues to resist our demand for negotiations, we will finalize our future strike plans on Thursday," Park said.
Hyundai Motor President Yoon Yeo-cheol held a meeting with the union's leader earlier in the day to demand the withdrawal of the planned strike, company officials said.
In a statement, however, Yoon said the company will seek to hold unionized workers who actively take part in the strike responsible for any damage.
The president said the planned strike is illegal and is seeking a court injunction to suspend the strike as a business disruption and illegal labor activity.
Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo also issued a statement calling for the union to scrap its planned walkout.
"Its (the labor union's) demand for a higher bonus payment does not legitimize a labor strike, and its decision to go on strike without a vote by rank-and-file workers is an outright illegal activity," Lee said.
The confrontation is the latest setback for the world's sixth-largest automaker, which with its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. seeks to become a major global automaking player through increased production. The company has been hit by strikes almost every year for the past two decades.
The trouble comes at a particularly difficult time, as Hyundai Motor struggles with the rising value of the Korean won against the dollar, which rapidly erodes its profit.
The country's five business organizations, including the Federation of Korean Industries, issued a statement that calls for the authorities to tackle the Hyundai Motor union's strike "in accordance with law and principle."
"The illegal strike will hurt Hyundai Motor's subcontractors as well as the national economy," the organizations said in a joint statement.
They also called on Hyundai Motor to sternly deal with the strike saying that it should not accept "excessive" demands from the labor union.
Union members have refused overtime work since Dec. 28, causing production losses of 17,977 units worth 267 billion won (US$284 million), Hyundai Motor said.
The automaker lost production of 115,683 vehicles valued at 1.6 trillion won last year because of strikes.
Hyundai Motor last year produced 1.62 million vehicles, about 8 percent less than its initial target of 1.77 million units.
The automaker's net profit in the July-September quarter tumbled more than 40 percent as a month-long strike cut into production and a stronger won reduced the converted value of its exports, making its vehicles more expensive in overseas markets.
Hyundai Motor is targeting a 52.5 percent share of the domestic market for automobiles by selling 630,000 units in 2007, up 8.4 percent from 581,092 units last year.
Ulsan, Jan. 15 (Yonhap News)
Hyundai Motor union launches partial strike |
