Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co.’s South Korean plants have held their first strike in five years to protest against the government’s “anti-union” labor policies.
Day-shift and night-shift staff will stop work for two hours Wednesday, a spokesman for the automaker’s union said in a text message. Employees at Hyundai’s affiliate Kia Corp. won’t participate in the partial strike.
The workers are part of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, which is calling on its 180,000 members to protest against the Yoon Suk-Yeol administration’s labor policies. The government has pushed for reforms in labor unions and vowed strong responses to any illegal demonstration that disrupts public order.
About 44,000 workers at Hyundai are members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union. The group also represents workers at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Employees from that company will also stage a partial strike Wednesday, according to HD Hyundai’s website.
The umbrella union held rallies in 12 cities across the country to protest labor policies, and called for a bigger increase to the minimum wage as the cost of living soars.
“Everything is getting expensive, except our salary,” said Yang Kyung-soo, chief of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which joined the rally in Seoul near Yoon’s office. “We should hike the minimum wage,”
The union also criticized Yoon’s other policies, such as agreeing to Japan discharging treated radioactive water from nuclear plants in Fukushima. The metal workers’ union estimates about 5,000 members gathered at the protest in Seoul, staged on a road and surrounded by a swathe of police buses. After a one hour protest near the presidential office, they marched on the road for around 30 minutes.
Spokespeople for the companies weren’t available to comment.
Hyundai fell as much as 2.2% in Seoul, the biggest intraday loss since June 7.
(Adds details on strike from fifth paragraph.)
