GM Korea union secures right to strike after labor board halts mediation

The GM Korea union has secured the legal right to strike after the National Labor Relations Commission halted mediation in the company's ongoing wage and collective bargaining dispute.

The commission issued a mediation suspension ruling Monday in response to the union's request for dispute arbitration over wage and collective bargaining negotiations, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The commission had presented both sides with a proposed settlement but decided to suspend mediation after the two parties failed to narrow their differences on key issues.

Earlier, the Korean Metal Workers' Union's GM Korea chapter passed a strike authorization vote with an 86.5 percent approval rate among all 6,517 union members last month.

With the strike vote passed and the commission's mediation suspension now in place, the union has formally secured its right to take industrial action.

The union plans to closely monitor the 12th and 13th rounds of full-scale negotiations, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, before deciding on the timing and scale of any strike.

In this year's wage and collective bargaining talks, the union is pressing management with demands that include a monthly base pay raise of 149,600 won ($97) and a performance bonus of 30 million won per member. Depending on how negotiations unfold, a strike could disrupt production at GM Korea's factories.