On July 25, Federation of Korean Metal Workers’ Trade Unions (KOSUN) announced that it had received a total of 92.8% overwhelming approval in favor of the strike during the three-day (July 22-24) strike vote. The federation consists of eight shipyard chapters, including HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering), HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding, K Shipbuilding, HD Hyundai Samho, HJ Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Mipo, and Samsung Heavy Industries.
Korean media recently reported that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ union has announced a three-hour partial strike from August 28 at 2 p.m. due to the failure of the union to reach an agreement with the employer during the 14th round of labor negotiations held on August 13, which was held on the same day (13) during the 14th Central Labor Committee Meeting of the Ministry of Employment and Labor of Korea. It is expected that the labor unions of Hanwha Ocean, Samsung Heavy Industries, and HD Hyundai Samho will participate in some of this strike action.
On July 18, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ labor union filed an application for mediation dispute lawsuit with the Central Labor Committee of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) and initiated a strike procedure. From July 22 to 24, the strike proposal related to the negotiation of wage and collective agreement for the year of 2024 was passed smoothly, and the support rate for the strike reached 65.1%.
Subsequently, the Central Labor Committee of MOEL confirmed that there were huge differences between the labor and management of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and decided to suspend the mediation on July 29th. As a result, the labor union of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has completed the entire process of initiating a strike and has been granted the right to strike.
In addition to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the HD Hyundai Mipo and HD Hyundai Samho labor unions voted to go on strike on July 24 and 26, respectively; the Samsung Heavy Industries Workers’ Committee voted to strike on July 22 with overwhelming support of 97.14 percent; Hanwha Ocean had already launched a seven-hour strike on July 15 at the Geoje shipyard.
In previous news, the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Union was scheduled to hold a four-hour partial strike on August 24, and the latest strike is now scheduled to last three hours on August 28th. KOSUN, on the other hand, had originally planned a general strike for August 28th.
South Korean industry insiders had predicted that it was possible for labor and management to narrow their differences at the end of the shipyard’s summer vacation.However, the last few negotiations have failed to make progress and the differences between the two sides continue.
Take HD Hyundai Heavy Industries as an example, since June this year, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries labor and management have held more than ten rounds of negotiations on wages and collective agreements, but no substantive progress has been made and little effect has been achieved.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries labor union has put forward a series of demands to the management such as raising the basic wage by 159,800 won (about $120, excluding salary increase), adjusting the calculation standard of performance bonus, extending the retirement age, adjusting the payment method of seniority allowance (10,000 won/about $7.5 for each additional year of service), and increasing the number of Korean laborers, but the management has not yet put forward any concrete proposals.
During several rounds of negotiations, labor and management at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries have had significant disagreements over adjustments to the calculation of performance bonuses and the payment of seniority allowances, as well as disagreements over the need to supplement Korean labor.
In addition, the company’s labor union argued that the employer should provide a special budget of 5 billion won (about $3.75 million, compared to the current 2 billion won/about $1.5 million) to expand the recreational facilities, but the employer said that the current 2 billion won is sufficient to meet the demand for recreational facilities.
Of the union’s decision to strike, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said, “The union’s decision to strike is regrettable at a critical time when labor and management need to work together to seize the opportunities for recovery in the shipbuilding industry. The company will strive to reach a compromise with the labor union through sincere negotiations.” Regardless of the partial strike or not, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries labor and management will continue to hold consultation talks three times a week.
Notably, Korean media said other shipyard chapters of KOSUN are expected to participate in some of the strikes, but no further details have been revealed. As the shipbuilding industry enters a new boom, it is expected that the demands of the shipyard unions will become more aggressive and the struggle between labor and management will continue.