Company leans toward raising variable pay as HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union announces four- to seven-hour partial strikes

【Financial News, Ulsan—Reporter Choi Soo-sang】As wage and collective bargaining negotiations between Hyundai Heavy Industries and its labor union drag on, a partial strike involving all union members has been announced. 
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries labor union, the Hyundai Heavy Industries Branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, announced on the 10th that its Central Dispute Countermeasures Committee had decided to hold four-hour strikes involving all union members on the 11th and 14th–15th, followed by seven-hour strikes involving all union members from the 16th through the 18th, in connection with this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations.
Because negotiations have been difficult this year, the union has intermittently staged strikes involving delegates, its executive body, and individual operating departments since the 2nd. However, this will be the first strike involving the entire membership.
The company and the union have held 19 rounds of talks since their initial meeting on June 2, but no progress has been made.
The union is demanding increases in basic pay and other fixed wages to reflect the shipbuilding boom, a rise in bonuses from the current 800% to 900%, and the sharing of at least 30% of operating profits as performance-based compensation.
The company, meanwhile, proposed on the 8th a 105,000-won increase in basic pay, including a 47,000-won seniority increase, along with an incentive of 10 million won plus 200%. The union rejected the offer, saying it was insufficient to meet members’ expectations. While the union agrees that members’ wages should rise amid the boom, the company maintains that variable pay, such as incentives, should be increased rather than fixed wages so it can respond flexibly to a downturn in shipbuilding and conditions in the global shipbuilding-related industries.

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