Hyundai Heavy Industries Tentative Agreement on Labor-Management Negotiations Rejected with 49.94% Approval

The Hyundai Heavy Industries labor union has been on strike at the Ulsan headquarters since April 27 due to difficulties in wage negotiations. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jung] The tentative agreement on wages and collective bargaining at Hyundai Heavy Industries was rejected in a vote by union members on the 8th.

According to the vote results among all union members (6,659) of Hyundai Heavy Industries, 3,093 (49.94%) voted in favor, 3,078 (49.69%) voted against, and 23 (0.37%) votes were invalid. A total of 6,194 members participated in the vote. The tentative agreement was rejected as it failed to meet the condition that a majority of voting union members must approve the wage and collective bargaining agreement.

The tentative agreement included an 80,000 KRW increase in base pay (including a 23,000 KRW step increase), a 20,000 KRW increase in regional and welfare allowances, performance bonuses, a 3.5 million KRW encouragement bonus, and 300,000 KRW in gift certificates.

It also included increasing the number of fixed-term hires targeting retired production technology workers.

Labor and management experts cite wage issues as the main reason for the rejection. The agreement failed to meet the heightened expectations of union members due to order recovery and other factors. Labor and management will resume negotiations and work to produce a second tentative agreement. Previously, the union had announced a joint strike with other shipbuilding unions in the same group, such as Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, for the first time in history, but postponed it following the release of this tentative agreement.

If labor-management renegotiations are prolonged, the union may proceed with the strike it had postponed. With the rejection of the "big brother" Hyundai Heavy Industries tentative agreement, negotiations at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries are also expected to be affected.