Subscribe
E-Paper
Labor unions are free to go on strike as long as their collective actions are lawful. And no outside entity is entitled to interfere in the internal affairs of a company, no matter how much its workers are paid.
But the union's case against Hyundai Motor, the nation's largest carmaker and the world's fifth-largest auto manufacturer, seems far-fetched, considering that wage levels at its local operations are among the highest in the country, while productivity is hitting rock bottom.
Last week, nearly 70 percent of Hyundai Motor's 47,000 workers voted to authorize union leader Lee Kyung-hoon to call a strike. The walkout could begin as early as Aug. 22. Labor and management have been engaged in wage and collective bargaining talks since June 3, but no progress has been made on such critical issues as whether to include regular bonuses when calculating an employee's ordinary wages.
The union is also demanding an 8.16 percent rise in wages and wants the retirement age to be extended to 60 without the introduction of a wage peak system, which would allow employees to work past the company's set retirement age in exchange for reduced salaries during their last few years. The union also calls for a bonus equal to 30 percent of the previous year's net profits.
True, the ordinary wage issue is tricky. Workers are adamant that bonuses should be counted as part of the base wage, in keeping with practices at GM Korea and Ssangyong Motor. This would mean higher overtime rates, holiday allowances and severance pay, because such benefits are calculated in accordance with the base wage. But the automaker's management is refusing to meet the union's demands, saying the company's very survival is at stake.
Hyundai Motor workers are quite familiar with the term walkout. Since its establishment in 1987, the Hyundai Motor union has staged strikes during 22 of the past 26 years. The resulting production losses amounted to more than 1.25 million vehicles, according to the management.
Now, the prevailing view is that the "aristocratic" union's habitual walkouts should be stopped. And this is no time for unionized workers to lay down their tools and go on strike.
Considering the company's operating profits for the second quarter of the year ― which fell 13.3 percent year on year, largely as a result of the appreciation of the Korean currency, a strike at Hyundai Motor would boomerang back against the workers in the form of domestic job losses. They ought to keep in mind that more than half of all Hyundai Motor cars are already manufactured abroad because of the company's continual expansion of overseas investment.
