"Transition Period for Future Cars, Temporary Workforce Reduction Should Be Allowed"

Hyundai Motor Ulsan Plant Ioniq 5 Production Line

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] There have been calls for the introduction of exceptional regulations, such as temporarily allowing workforce reductions, in line with the transition to future mobility means like electric vehicles.

Professor Kim Kang-sik of Korea Aerospace University stated in a forum presentation held at the Automobile Hall on the 7th, "It is difficult to secure price competitiveness for electric vehicles without restructuring excess manpower or resolving labor rigidity," emphasizing this point. He explained that compared to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, the number of parts is fewer and the processes are simpler, inevitably reducing labor demand. Additionally, as future mobility shifts to knowledge- and technology-intensive industries, the nature of employment has also changed.

He compared the Gwangju-type job factory created by Hyundai Motor Company and Gwangju City with the Hyundai Motor Singapore factory scheduled to start operations next year. Regarding the Gwangju-type job factory, he said, "It neither considers the future of the industry nor focuses beyond merely increasing jobs," diagnosing that "it could become an obstacle to the transition to future vehicles." On the other hand, he viewed the Singapore factory as an advanced future factory with an intelligent manufacturing platform that minimizes labor input.

Professor Kim said, "Hyundai Motor's domestic plants still do not have dedicated electric vehicle lines," adding, "Our advanced factories embodying the future of the automobile industry will inevitably be built overseas, and outdated factories will inevitably be established in Korea."

To secure industrial competitiveness, Professor Kim argued that it is necessary to enhance employment and labor flexibility and shift from adversarial labor-management relations to cooperative and symbiotic ones. He pointed out that labor rigidity is high due to restrictions such as dispatch and replacement work, prohibition of dismissal, workforce reassignment through union consultation, and volume adjustments between factories, which inevitably slows down the transition to future vehicles. Furthermore, he added that flexible measures such as easing total working hour regulations and promoting mid- to long-term wage agreements between labor and management are needed.

Kim Kyung-yu, head of the System Industry Division at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, said, "The key competitive factor during industrial structural transformation is enhancing flexibility," and added, "In the growing electric vehicle market, production scale must be increased and costs lowered through concentration."

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