Exclusive: HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union to add migrant worker demands to wage talks

Amid stalled wage and collective bargaining talks at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the union is set to present the company with an additional set of demands concerning migrant workers. The move could push the already deadlocked negotiations — marked by partial strikes and a high-altitude sit-in protest — well into year-end.

The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union is discussing whether to add migrant worker-related items to the demands it is currently negotiating with management, according to reporting Friday.

The demands currently under discussion between the two sides contain no provisions specifically addressing migrant workers. The union is weighing two approaches: adding migrant worker items to the existing list of demands, or establishing a separate branch to conduct dedicated negotiations. "We will seek legal advice and choose the most appropriate method," a union official said.

The substance of the migrant worker demands has already been decided. Chief among them is equal payment of performance bonuses — the most contentious issue in this year's shipbuilding industry wage talks. The union also plans to call for improved employment stability through reforms to short-term contract structures, as well as greater transparency in the criteria used to calculate vacation allowances and homeward-journey travel expenses.

Migrant workers at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries are currently enrolled in a subcontractor union rather than the primary union. More than 200 joined collectively in July after the company pushed through changes to migrant workers' employment contracts that drew strong opposition. The union estimates that about 1,600 migrant workers are directly employed by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The primary union maintains, however, that migrant workers — regardless of their subcontractor union membership — have the right to bargain directly with the primary contractor. Because foreign union members are under contract directly with the primary contractor, the union argues the so-called "Yellow Envelope Act," which grants subcontractor unions the right to bargain with primary contractors, does not apply to their case. In other words, the union contends migrant workers can demand direct negotiations without first obtaining a ruling from the Labor Relations Commission recognizing the primary contractor as their employer.

A legal expert cautioned that such a move would require the union to file a request with the Labor Relations Commission for separate bargaining units. "However, there is no precedent for a migrant worker union applying directly to a primary contractor for negotiations, so it is difficult to say whether such a request would be accepted," the expert said.

Adding a migrant worker agenda to the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries talks is expected to deepen and extend the labor-management standoff. This year's shipbuilding industry wage negotiations have been far more severely deadlocked than in previous years. The union chapter heads at both HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean are currently staging high-altitude sit-in protests atop cranes at their respective sites. A joint news conference by the two unions was scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Strike action has continued in parallel. The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union staged seven-hour partial strikes daily at its Ulsan headquarters and other sites from Monday through Friday. Separately, the head of the Mipo committee within the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union — who had been on a hunger strike to protest labor condition adjustments following HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' absorption merger of HD Hyundai Mipo — was taken to hospital on Thursday, 14 days into his fast.

Both companies have held dozens of bargaining sessions with their respective unions but have failed to reach agreement. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has conducted 26 rounds of negotiations to date, while Hanwha Ocean has held 29. In the case of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, a tentative agreement reached on Sept. 30 — covering a base pay increase of 120,000 won ($91), a lump-sum payment of 11 million won and a 200 percent bonus — was ultimately rejected by union members because it fell short of their original demand for a performance bonus equivalent to 30 percent of operating profit.