Korea GM Union Approves 2019 Tentative Labor Agreement... 53.4% in Favor

Final Agreement Reached After 10 Months Amid Strikes and Negotiation Breakdowns

Korea GM Bupyeong Plant (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The Korean GM labor union has finally approved the tentative agreement on the 2019 wage negotiations. With this, Korean GM has put an end to the labor-management conflict that lasted for 10 months since the start of negotiations in July last year, which went through strikes, negotiation suspensions, and changes in the union executive.

According to the industry on the 14th, the tentative agreement was approved with 3,860 members (53.4%) voting in favor in a two-day vote conducted from the previous day among Korean GM union members.

The approved tentative agreement mainly includes a wage freeze and no performance bonuses, following the 2018 collective bargaining agreement framework. It does not include the basic salary increase, performance bonuses, or lump-sum payments that the union had demanded since last year. Separate discussions will be held regarding the damages lawsuit filed by the management during the union strike process.

The agreement also includes additional discount benefits ranging from 1 million to 3 million KRW per person by vehicle model when union members purchase new Korean GM cars. Members can use vouchers to receive incentive benefits when purchasing vehicles such as the Spark, Malibu, and Trailblazer.

The process leading to the final agreement after the tentative agreement was not smooth. Although labor and management reached a tentative agreement on the 23rd of last month, internal conflicts within the union continued. The expanded joint executive meeting was canceled due to boycotts by some union delegates, and changes related to the vouchers caused the approval vote to be postponed three times.

However, it is known that a consensus was formed that labor and management should cooperate to overcome the crisis as the recent COVID-19 pandemic has spread a sense of crisis throughout the domestic and international automobile markets.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.