"Serious Low Birthrate... Hyundai Motor, First Large Corporation to Establish Labor-Management Cooperation System"

Hyundai Motor Labor-Management Forms 'Low Birthrate and Childcare Support TFT'
Discussing Childbirth and Childcare Support Measures by Employee Life Cycle

Hyundai Motor Company labor and management recently formed a task force team (TFT) to support low birth rates and childcare, separate from the ongoing 2023 collective bargaining, the company announced on the 26th.

This TFT was created to find countermeasures at the Hyundai Motor labor-management level regarding the low birth rate issue, which has emerged as the biggest problem in South Korea. The company stated that they plan to discuss comprehensive childbirth and childcare support measures based on employees' life cycles, from marriage to pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, and school enrollment.

Earlier, the company’s labor union included low birth rate countermeasures as one of the demands in this year’s collective bargaining. The company also recognized the need for comprehensive and organic measures to address the low birth rate.

The company emphasized that forming a TFT to consider and find solutions to the low birth rate issue at the labor-management level is the first among domestic large corporations. Given that Hyundai Motor’s labor-management relations have significant ripple effects across the industrial sector, labor circles, and Korean society at large, it is expected that the formation of this TFT will considerably influence other companies and labor-management relations.

Hyundai Motor Ulsan Plant Main Gate

As its first step, the TFT plans to visit the family of an employee with eight children working at Hyundai Motor’s Jeonju plant for an interview. They intend to present a small gift and listen to their difficulties and suggestions. Currently, the company operates systems such as marriage leave, condolence money, pre- and post-childbirth leave, and school-specific support funds, which will also be discussed and improved through the TFT.

A Hyundai Motor official said, "This TFT is meaningful as a starting point for a paradigm shift in collective bargaining because, unlike past Hyundai Motor collective bargaining where the company reviewed union demands for acceptance, labor and management jointly recognize social issues and work together to create countermeasures."