GM-Daewoo Auto Union Decides to Go On Partial Strike (Dong-a Ilbo News)
The automobile unions’ summer fight for wages has started.
After Kia Motors suffered a strike on June 28, the GM-Daewoo union followed suit by partially striking for four hours on July 16.
Moreover, the Hyundai Motor union is also having a hard time negotiating with the company, and this years struggle for wages is expected to be rougher than that of last year.
Coupled with the fact that the company’s suggestions did not satisfy the union’s demands, GM Daewoo Chief Executive Michael Grimaldi just left a business trip in the middle of negotiations recently. The GM-Daewoo union then went on a partial strike at the Bupyeong plant in Incheon, arguing that the CEO’s attitude was not sincere.
The union will refuse overtime on July 17 and is preparing for a 4-hour partial strike on July 18.
Ever since GM-Daewoo started production in October 2002 in Korea, it had no strikes in 2003 and 2005, had 26 hours worth of strikes in 2004, and went on a 4 hour strike last year, which verifies the relatively stable relationship between the company and its labor union. Now the labor is demanding a 400% increase in the piece rate and a 128,805 won basic salary raise.
The Kia union continued its partial strikes with a six-hour strike on the same day GM Daewoo started its strike. It is scheduled to have a four-hour day and night strike from July 18-20.
Kia announced that the strikes caused an estimated 242.7 billion won loss and a 16,598-car production bottleneck.
After a meeting with the company on July 12, the Hyundai union is still in the early phase of negotiations and will have a second round of negotiations on July 18. A strong backlash from the union is expected because of salary and worker relocation issues.
Meanwhile, the Ssangyoung Motor union, which went on strike last year and caused a lot of damage to its production line, reached an agreement with the management on a wage increase of 50,000 won, a bonus worth about two million won, and more job security on June 28.
Link to original Donga.com article
Thanks,
John Martyn
