'Difficulty in collective wage negotiation' HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union's strike extends to five days

(Ulsan = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Ji-hyun = HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Labor Union (Hyundai Heavy Industries branch of the Metal Workers' Union) decided to expand the seven-hour daily partial strike for all union members to five days from the 19th to the 23rd.

Amid difficulties in negotiating wages and collective agreements this year, branch manager Kim Dong-ha went on a sit-in at a crane on the 18th.

According to the union, it was decided to expand the 4-hour partial strike for executives scheduled for the 19th and 20th to a 7-hour daily partial strike for all union members.

The previously announced partial strike of 7 hours a day for all union members from the 21st to the 23rd will also proceed as scheduled. Accordingly, the partial strike for all union members will increase from three to five days.

At around 5 p.m. on this day, Branch Manager Kim climbed a crane in the factory stockyard of Daejo-ri Plant 1, the Ulsan headquarters of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and was staging a sit-in alone at a height of about 25 meters.

Under the crane, union officials and company security personnel are standing by and watching the situation. The crane has stairs so it can deliver goods such as drinking water.

The union issued a statement immediately after the sit-in that day, demanding distribution of performance commensurate with the boom in the shipbuilding industry and resolution of the gap in treatment between workers through integrated collective bargaining.

The labor union claimed, "HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' operating profit estimate at the end of this year is over 4 trillion won and is expected to nearly double compared to the previous year, but workers are nowhere to be found in those flashy numbers. We must now clearly say who is the owner of the boom."

He continued, "By unilaterally merging companies for the sake of capital profits, each unit union has become one family, but collective agreements, various systems, and wage systems are still divided. Based on integrated collective bargaining, we will overcome differences to complete a unified labor union and achieve fair distribution of performance."

Labor and management continued negotiations after the meeting on June 2 and prepared the first provisional agreement on the 30th of last month.

The agreement included an increase in basic salary of 120,000 won (including 50,000 won in salary increase) and a lump-sum payment of 11 million won + 200% of incentives, but it was rejected in a vote by union members on the 2nd of this month, with 52.14% of 7,541 voters opposed.

Since then, labor and management have renegotiated twice, but have not been able to narrow down their differences.

After the integration with HD Hyundai Mipo, difficulties are continuing in the process of integrating different collective agreements and wage and welfare systems.

Some members of the Mipo Committee, made up of former HD Hyundai Mipo union members, are protesting against the existing working conditions, saying they are regressing, and Kim Tae-am, chairman of the Mipo Committee, has been on hunger strike for 11 days since the 8th.