HMM Maritime Union Begins Strike Vote

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] As the possibility of the first strike since its founding in 1976 increases, HMM's maritime union is conducting a union member vote on labor disputes.

According to the shipping industry on the 22nd, HMM's maritime union is holding a labor dispute vote among seafarer union members from 12 PM on the 22nd until 12 PM the following day. The maritime union held final negotiations with management at the second mediation meeting of the Central Labor Relations Commission (CLRC) on the 20th, but as they failed to narrow their differences, the CLRC decided to suspend mediation.

Earlier, the land union also proceeded through the third mediation meeting of the CLRC but received a final mediation suspension decision from the CLRC and plans to conduct a union member vote on strike action soon.

Regarding this wage negotiation, management proposed to the land union a negotiation plan including an 8% wage increase, a 300% encouragement bonus, a 200% incentive bonus after the year-end settlement, transportation allowance of 50,000 to 100,000 KRW, and welfare points worth 500,000 KRW. However, both unions are demanding a "wage normalization" after eight years of wage freeze, requesting a 25% wage increase and a 1200% performance bonus.

If the strike vote passes for both the land and maritime unions, they plan to form an emergency countermeasure committee (tentative name) to jointly respond with lawful struggle and other measures.

Meanwhile, as the possibility of an HMM strike rises, concerns about logistics chaos among domestic small and medium export companies are growing. With container ship freight rates rising for 15 consecutive weeks, if HMM also goes on strike, it will inevitably become more difficult to secure vessels for transporting goods. Under current law, ships that are operating or calling at overseas ports cannot strike, but ships docked domestically can.

In response, HMM management stated, "Considering that this situation could lead to logistics chaos if mishandled, we ask the union to approach negotiations with a more open attitude."

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