SEOUL: Hyundai Motor’s South Korean union staged its first full strike in a decade yesterday after wage talks stalled, as it seeks a higher retirement age and job protections against artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
Striking workers from Hyundai Motor, affiliate Kia Corp and suppliers held a rally outside Hyundai Motor’s headquarters in Seoul, wearing red headbands and chanting demands that included allowing parts suppliers to have direct wage talks with automakers and increasing the retirement age from the current 60.
“The key figures who made Hyundai and Kia the world’s strongest company for 35 or 40 years are now being pushed into contract positions,“ Hyundai union leader Lee Jong-cheol said from a stage at the rally.
About 40,000 Hyundai Motor union members are expected to join the walkout yesterday, while around 1,200 to 1,300 union members are set to attend the Seoul rally, a union official said earlier yesterday.
Members of other unions and those affiliated with the umbrella union were also seen joining, bringing the total expected attendance at the rally in the capital to about 3,000, the official added.
The one-day strike illustrates growing labour unrest in South Korea following the election of pro-labour liberal President Lee Jae Myung last year.
It follows a series of partial walkouts since late July that have disrupted production of 55,200 vehicles worth over 2.3 trillion won (RM6.7 billion), according to Yonhap News Agency estimates.
The labour action adds to challenges facing the automaker, which in July said it expected to miss its global sales target this year, amid growing Chinese competition in Europe and falling sales in South Korea.
The union’s demand to raise the mandatory retirement age is in line with President Lee’s pledge to gradually increase the limit in one of the world’s fastest-ageing countries.
The union is also seeking to raise bonuses to 800% of monthly base salary from 750%, and has demanded guarantees to protect jobs as the company adopts AI and automation.
Hyundai, which owns humanoid robot maker Boston Dynamics, has said it plans to deploy humanoid robots at its US plant in Georgia from 2028, with the aim of expanding their use across its production sites.
Union officials said AI would be a potential threat not only to production jobs but also research and engineering posts at automakers.
“Even if AI is introduced, we are prepared to fight it — and prepared to win. We are concerned about the future generation,“ Kim Byung-chul, a Hyundai Motor worker and vice-president of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, told Reuters.
Hyundai Motor union spokesman Kim Jin-wook said the union was open to resuming wage talks, but would discuss further strike plans if the management failed to come up with “forward-looking proposals.”
Hyundai Motor said it was committed to finding solutions through dialogue.
“Strike action can impact our customers, partners and operations. We are at a critical time when both sides must work together to successfully navigate the global transition to future mobility,“ it said in a statement.
