Union demands fair profit sharing, equal treatment across workforce

Union chief begins high-altitude sit-in atop 25-meter crane

The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union. [Provided by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union]
The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union. [Provided by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union]

The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union, affiliated with the Korean Metal Workers' Union, has expanded its partial strike action to five days, with all members set to walk out for seven hours a day from Monday through Friday.

The union said Sunday it would broaden a partial strike originally planned for Monday and Tuesday — which had been limited to union officials for four hours each afternoon — into a full seven-hour daily walkout covering all members. The three-day all-member strike already scheduled for Wednesday through Friday will proceed as planned, bringing the total to five consecutive days.

The escalation comes amid a protracted deadlock in this year's wage and collective bargaining negotiations. Kim Dong-ha, the union's chapter chief, climbed to the top of a 25-meter crane at the company's Ulsan headquarters Sunday afternoon and began a high-altitude sit-in protest.

In a statement issued the same day, the union called for profit sharing commensurate with the shipbuilding industry's boom and for closing the gap in working conditions among employees through unified collective bargaining.

"HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is projected to post operating profit of more than 4 trillion won ($2.97 billion) by year-end — nearly double last year's figure — yet workers are nowhere to be found in those dazzling numbers," the union said. "It is time to make clear who the real owners of this prosperity are."

The union added that companies had been merged unilaterally for the benefit of capital and shareholders, making individual union branches part of the same family, yet collective agreements, various systems and wage structures remain divided. "We will complete a unified union that transcends those differences through integrated collective bargaining and win fair profit sharing," it said.

Labor and management held their first formal meeting on June 2 and continued negotiations, reaching a tentative agreement on Sept. 30.

The proposed deal included a base pay raise of 120,000 won (including a seniority increment of 50,000 won) and a lump-sum payment of 11 million won plus 200 percent in incentive bonuses. It was voted down on Oct. 2, with 52.14 percent of the 7,541 members who cast ballots rejecting it.

The two sides have since held 24 rounds of talks in total — including sessions on Tuesday and Thursday — through Saturday, but have been unable to narrow their differences.


pink@heraldcorp.com