Unionised workers at Hyundai Motor Co. voted Monday in favor of a strike to demand higher wages, potentially marking the company’s first walkout in seven years.
In a daylong vote, 86.15 percent of members supported the strike plan, with nearly 95 percent of the 42,180 members casting ballots, according to the union, News.Az reports, citing Yonhap.
With arbitration by the state labor relations committee also failing earlier in the day, the 42,000-member union has now secured the legal right to stage a walkout.
Still, the results are unlikely to lead to an immediate strike. The union will launch an ad hoc strike committee Thursday and hold a meeting to discuss detailed plans.
If carried out, it would mark Hyundai Motor's first walkout in seven years.
The union and management have held 17 rounds of wage talks this year but have yet to narrow their differences over the union's demand for higher wages and performance-based bonuses.
The union is demanding a 141,300-won (US$102) increase in the monthly base pay per worker and 30 percent of Hyundai's annual net profit to be distributed as performance-based pay.
The union is also calling for bonuses worth nine months of salary per worker, up from the current 7 1/2 months, as well as raising the retirement age from 60 to 64.
Hyundai Motor's net income rose 7.8 percent on-year to 13.22 trillion won in 2024.
The strike threat comes as the auto industry faces external headwinds, including new 15 percent U.S. tariffs on vehicle exports that took effect this month.
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung is in Washington as part of South Korea's business delegation to a high-stakes summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday (local time).
It remains unclear whether South Korean companies will unveil additional U.S. investment plans during the summit.
