Hyundai Motor union vows to escalate fight: 'We won't wait any longer'

The Hyundai Motor union is turning up the pressure on management, declaring "we won't wait any longer" as it escalates its on-site campaign. The union is pressing ahead with four-hour partial strikes across day and night shifts this week and has announced a nighttime rally on the headquarters lawn to force management to table a new offer.

The Korean Metal Workers' Union's Hyundai Motor branch said Tuesday in a statement that it "will no longer simply wait" and warned it would "make management have no choice but to put forward a proposal" if none was forthcoming. The union said negotiations could resume "at any time" once a proposal was on the table, but added that "if we were going to accept whatever management handed us from the outset, we would never have fought in the first place."

The union also rebuffed rumors circulating on the factory floor about an imminent return to the bargaining table. It said workers should not be swayed by "rumors of negotiations resuming out of nowhere, rumors of a deal being wrapped up after a private meeting, or rumors of a settlement before the summer holiday break," calling none of them close to the truth.

Strike action will continue as planned. Day-shift workers will walk off the job Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:50 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., while night-shift workers will stop work from 7:30 p.m. to 12:10 a.m. the following day. Permanent day workers will join the strike from 12:40 p.m. to 4:40 p.m., and general office staff from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The union is also holding rallies at the plant. On Monday, all shop stewards at the Ulsan factory gathered for a protest rally in front of the main building. A general strike resolution rally for all night-shift union members is scheduled for Tuesday evening on the headquarters lawn, held after dark to avoid the summer heat. The union said it would "carry strong solidarity forward as shop-floor power."

The union made clear it intends to use this year's collective bargaining as a turning point in labor-management relations. "The 2026 collective bargaining round will mark a new turning point toward an equal labor-management relationship — something not in our formal demands but of even greater value," the union said, pledging to build "a powerful, shop-floor-centered union."

Hyundai Mobis workers are also maintaining an overnight sit-in for the 12th consecutive day in line with directives from the Hyundai Motor branch. They are also staging morning-commute protests at the Ulsan export logistics center, lunchtime demonstrations, and targeted actions at worksites nationwide.

The gap between the two sides remains wide. The union and management have met roughly three times but have yet to open formal negotiations. The key sticking points are extending the mandatory retirement age, reinstating dismissed workers, and raising bonuses.

At the 15th bargaining session, management put forward its third proposal, offering a base pay increase of 89,000 won ($60), a performance bonus of 350 percent plus 10 million won, and 15 shares of company stock — but the union said the offer fell short of what its members expect. The union is demanding a base pay raise of 149,600 won, a performance bonus equivalent to 30 percent of last year's net profit, an 800 percent bonus increase, a higher retirement age, and the reinstatement of dismissed workers.

Management maintains it has already put its best offer on the table. In a statement issued Thursday, Hyundai Motor CEO Choi Young-il said workers must "coolly assess what is actually left at the end of a strike," adding that the company had presented its best proposal "after comprehensively weighing last year's earnings, this year's business environment, and the resources needed for future investment." He appealed for a different path forward, saying "the road we must take is not the mutually destructive one of strikes, but one where Hyundai Motor, its employees, parts suppliers, and shareholders all coexist and grow together."