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| Members of Hyundai Heavy Industries union count ballots from a vote on the union's strike over this year's wage negotiation in Ulsan, Wednesday. The union members agreed to go on an 86.98 percent approval rate. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Manufacturers here are facing increasing uncertainty over business operations in the latter half of the year after struggles in wage negotiations have led to some unions threatening to strike, industry analysts said Thursday.
The threat of strikes from unions is another hit for manufacturers at a time when there are already uncertainties over the rising trade tensions between Korea and Japan.
According to the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) union, its members have agreed to go on strike over difficulties surrounding this year's wage negotiations and collective bargaining, with an 86.98 percent approval rate from the 7,043 who cast ballots in a vote from Monday to Wednesday.
The management and union of the shipbuilder have been negotiating over the latter's demand for hikes in base pay and incentives since May 2, but are failing to narrow the gap in their stances.
The union said in a statement that the approval rate "reflects union members' strong will for victory in wage negotiations and anger against the company's illegalities in the merger with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME)."
The union has been in a feud with management over HHI's plan to merger with DSME. The DSME union also decided earlier this month to launch a strike to oppose the move.
Hyundai Steel's union and management are also on a collision course, as the union applied for a mediation by the National Labor Relations Commission citing the company's failure to attend four consecutive rounds of wage negotiation meetings. If the commission finds it cannot mediate the dispute, the union can legally go on strike.
The unions of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors are also staging a tug-of-war with their managements. Hyundai Motor's union is opposing the management's proposals of changing the way it provides incentives and refusal to hike the base pay. Kia Motors' union is also protesting its management's decision to freeze the base pay.
Hyundai Motor's union is also in an internal dispute over increasing the output of the brand's Palisade SUV, as union members of the company's plant No. 4 are opposing sharing the car's production with plant No. 2, in a worry over declined incentives.
Following the conflicts, their umbrella union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), launched an "all-out" strike on Thursday, in protest of the Moon Jae-in government's flexible work program and the failure to hike the country's minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.50) by 2020.
The umbrella union believes 15,000 unionists joined the walkout, but the Ministry of Employment and Labor estimates 12,000 participated in the rally.
"The market is already casting worries over Hyundai Motor union's strike dragging down the company's third-quarter earnings, though it is hard to expect what will happen in the coming months," Korea Investment & Securities analyst Kim Jin-woo said.
A manufacturing industry official said: "Companies are already fearful over uncertainties stemming from the Korea-Japan trade tensions and the unions' excessive moves are also coming as a huge burden for them."
Recently, Labor Minister Lee Jae-kab asked the KCTU and other union members to refrain from launching strikes, saying "the public's concern is growing over Japan's export restrictions, while the economic environment is remaining harsh."
