Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
By Kim Hyun-bin
Workers at Hyundai Motor Group's non-vehicle affiliates are frustrated over what they call unfair treatment by group management, as their counterparts at Hyundai Motor and Kia received 4 million won ($3,300) in special incentives recently, according to union officials Tuesday.
Employees of Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Steel, Hyundai Rotem and Hyundai Glovis are demanding management pay them the same amount, saying they will consider taking collective action unless their demands are met.
At Hyundai Mobis, the union is currently negotiating with management to receive special incentives, after Hyundai Motor and Kia employees including irregular workers received the special performance incentives earlier this month, while Hyundai Mobis and other Hyundai Motor Group affiliates were left out.
The reason for the payment was to reward employees who have continued to work hard even in the conditions of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is strong opposition from employees of affiliates such as Hyundai Glovis and Hyundai Steel, who have not even been able to negotiate for special incentives.
The Hyundai Mobis union, which is affiliated with the Hyundai Motor division of the Metal Workers' Union, is strongly opposed to the preferential treatment. Hyundai Mobis workers from its Ulsan, Changwon, and Jincheon factories held a demonstration on March 4 at Mobis headquarters in Seoul. The union of Hyundai Mobis plans to hold negotiations with management until the end of the month and then act in accordance with the results.
The union members failed to reach an agreement in the third round of negotiations in order to receive 4 million won. The total amount needed to pay incentives to 10,000 Hyundai Mobis employees is known to be around 40 billion won.
"There were no significant changes in the company's position in the third round of special negotiations following the second round," a Hyundai Mobis union official said.
Hyundai Steel's union is also holding a one-man relay protest in front of Hyundai Motor's headquarters in Seoul.
Hyundai Rotem's union vowed to take collective action if it does not receive the same level of special performance pay as Hyundai Motor and Kia.
"It was because of the efforts of all Hyundai Rotem employees that contributed to the turnaround to achieve an operating profit of 80 billion won in 2021," Hyundai Rotem's union said.
The union of Hyundai Mobis pointed out that it recorded the highest performance last year and demanded special incentive payments.
Hyundai Mobis posted sales of 41.7 trillion won, up 13.9 percent from the previous year, despite the ongoing pandemic and the semiconductor crisis last year. During the same period, operating profit increased by 11.5 percent to 2.4 trillion won.
Hyundai Steel achieved a record-breaking performance. Last year, it recorded 22.8 trillion won in sales and 2.44 trillion won in operating profit, increases by 26.8 percent and 3,251.3 percent, respectively, from the previous year.
Hyundai Motor Group did not give a comment on the issue.
