HMM Labor and Management Fail to Reach Agreement After Marathon Negotiations... Talks to Resume on the 2nd

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The additional wage and collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations held on the afternoon of the 1st between HMM management and the land and maritime labor unions ended without reaching a consensus.

According to HMM, the labor and management held CBA negotiations for more than eight hours from 2:00 PM to 10:40 PM but failed to reach a conclusion and temporarily suspended the talks. The parties plan to resume negotiations on the 2nd.

The union side presented a revised proposal that made significant concessions from their original demands of a 25% wage increase and a 1200% performance bonus, but the management did not accept it. The management is reported to have maintained its final offer of an 8% wage increase, a 300% encouragement bonus, and an additional 200% incentive bonus after the year-end settlement, following consultations with creditors.

The HMM land and maritime labor unions plan to hold a press conference before resuming negotiations on the 2nd to explain the specific figures of the proposals from both sides and the course of action in case of a negotiation breakdown. Previously, the land union held a strike vote with 755 out of 791 members participating, and 739 members (97.88% of voters) approved the strike, while the maritime union passed the strike with a 92.1% approval rate among voters.

If the renegotiation on the 2nd also fails, the unions are expected to proceed with a strike. Should the unions go on strike, logistics disruptions for export companies are inevitable. The chairpersons of the land and maritime unions have been delegated full authority by the members regarding negotiations and may skip the procedure of member voting on the tentative agreement.

Meanwhile, last year, just before the New Year on December 31, a tentative agreement including a 2.8% wage increase was reached after more than nine hours of meetings.