HMM Land Labor Union Rejects 8% Wage Increase Proposal with 95% Opposition

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The HMM Land Labor Union (Office Workers' Union) rejected the wage increase proposal from management, which included an 8% wage hike and a 500% performance bonus.

According to HMM on the 19th, the Land Labor Union conducted a vote on the management's adjustment proposal from 10 a.m. until midnight the previous day, lasting 14 hours, resulting in a final rejection with 95% opposing. An HMM official stated, "The voting result was 95% against, deciding not to accept the management's wage increase proposal."

Earlier, on the 13th, during the second mediation meeting with the Central Labor Relations Commission, management proposed a negotiation plan including an 8% salary increase, a 300% encouragement bonus, a 200% incentive bonus after year-end settlement, transportation allowance of 50,000 to 100,000 KRW, and welfare points worth 500,000 KRW. The effective overall increase rate including all these was 10.6%.

This figure represents about a 5 percentage point increase from the original proposal (5.5% wage increase) by management, but the union reportedly rejected it, stating that it still falls short of the average wages of domestic mid-sized shipping companies and is difficult to accept. In fact, the average wages of domestic shipping companies Pan Ocean and Korea Shipping are approximately 87 million KRW and 71 million KRW respectively, which is up to 20 million KRW higher than HMM.

If the Land Labor Union applies for a suspension of mediation at the final mediation meeting of the Central Labor Relations Commission at 6 p.m. that day, it is expected to prepare for full-scale labor disputes through strike votes and other procedures.

The Maritime Labor Union is also expected to enter joint strike preparations with the Land Labor Union through a vote if management proposes a similar wage increase rate at the second mediation meeting on the 20th and no agreement is reached.

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