Union ranks expected to swell with auto, metal workers

Membership in national labor organizations to increase after vote

Union groups representing workers at automobile companies and steel manufacturing plants will vote this week to determine whether to be included in industry-wide union organizations. The move is intended to strengthen their bargaining power in negotiations with management on wages and working conditions.

If the vote goes through at all union groups, as is generally expected,the nationwide labor organization representing metal workers would become the nation’s largest labor union, representing 146,000, an addition of 103,000 laborers. Around 43,000 unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. alone would become part of the Korea Confederation of Korea Union (KCKU). Workers at other automakers, such as Kia Motors Corp. and Ssangyong Motor Co., will also vote on the issue this week.

The major reason cited for the vote is that individual company-based labor unions are finding it harder to offer their employees basic protections, let alone bargaining rights. "Under corporate restructuring, which has intensified, [small-scale] union groups are hard-pressed to guarantee even the job safety of their members," said an official at the Korean Metal Workers Federation.

Another reason behind the envisioned change is the failure of the smaller, company-based labor unions in fairly representing workers other than those fully employed. Contract and part-time workers and those at small and medium-sized companies are currently largely left out in the cold, people close to the matter said.