Korean GM Union Moves to Secure Right to Strike... Approval Vote Next Week

Strike Vote for Union Members on July 1-2
Labor Dispute Mediation Request to Central Labor Relations Commission After Additional Negotiations

The Korea GM Bupyeong plant, which stopped operations due to a full-scale strike by the Korea GM union in September last year (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] This year, conflicts between the Korean GM labor union and management over wages and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) are intensifying. As the gap between the two sides remains wide, the union has begun the process of securing the right to strike.

According to industry sources on the 28th, the Korean GM union held an expanded executive joint meeting the day before and decided to conduct a strike authorization vote among all union members on May 1-2. After further negotiations with management, they plan to apply for labor dispute mediation with the Central Labor Relations Commission (CLRC). If the CLRC issues a decision to suspend mediation and more than half of the union members vote in favor of a strike, the union will secure the right to strike and be able to legally proceed with a strike.

The Korean GM union has met with management six times since their first meeting last month but has yet to find common ground. The union is demanding a basic monthly wage increase of 120,304 KRW and a performance bonus of 400% of the ordinary wage plus 6 million KRW in this year’s CBA negotiations. They are also insisting that management present future plans, including production volume and domestic sales innovation measures for the Bupyeong 2 plant since 2022.

On the other hand, management maintains that it is difficult to accept the union’s demands due to operational difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, tensions have escalated as the union has opposed the company’s plan to increase production at the Bupyeong 2 plant. Korean GM proposed increasing the hourly production volume at the Bupyeong 2 plant from 28 to 32 units, following an increase in exports of the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Encore produced there. However, the Bupyeong 2 plant union has rejected this, arguing that increasing production amid a shortage of personnel would overload the workload. Due to the union’s opposition to the production increase, operations at the Bupyeong 2 plant were halted for several hours over two days, May 26-27.

Originally, the Korean GM union planned to hold three rounds of relay negotiations with management on the CBA from May 26 to 28 this week, but due to these circumstances, the seventh round of negotiations scheduled for May 26 did not take place.

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