On the 7th, a final vote for the new branch manager will be held.
The current centrist executive has been eliminated from the first ballot.
The final two candidates. Focus on “Shortening Working Hours
While production disruptions are serious enough to wait for Hyundai Motor’s popular models to be released for nearly a year, a final vote for the new union branch manager will be held on the 7th to determine the direction of labor-management relations. No matter who is elected through a bilateral showdown between strong candidates, a thorny path is expected in labor-management relations in the future.
Hyundai Motor’s labor union will hold a vote on the 7th for the finals of the 9th executive (branch) elections. The second vote was narrowed down to a two-way race from four-way race [1st vote]. 2nd vote would be between 2 strong candidates who received the most votes from the first round of voting as there was no majority on it.
Currently, Hyundai Motor is in a situation to do its best to raise its factory utilization rate as reviving weekend overtime to make up for the shortage of production due to supply and demand difficulties in semiconductors. Like Genesis GV60, the latest electric vehicle released this year has a one-year waiting period for release. Other flagship models such as Tucson and Santa Fe are also behind in orders for an average of more than six months.
What is urgent right now, is to improve factory utilization. Since the 4th quarter, labor and management have been pushing for special work over the weekend with signs of easing supply and demand difficulties but production disruptions are expected if the new executive branch brakes. In fact, Saturday’s special work has been implemented since this month but Sunday’s special work is still delayed due to opposition from the union.
The two strong candidates criticized the current executive branch, which tends to be moderate and practical, signaling a strong struggle if union opinions are not carried out in the future. Hyundai Motor has a precedent of striking for the seventh consecutive year from 2012 to 2018, when the strong executive led the union.
The current executive branch led the union for the last two years, has implemented a bargaining strategy to negotiate with the management while securing dispute rights and refraining from actual strikes. However, Candidate No. 1 Sang-soo Lee from the current executive branch won only 19% of the support in the first vote. This means that candidate who can strongly pressure the management has a high approval rating.
Excessive wage hikes and future electric vehicle production problems are also factors that can lead to labor-management conflicts. Hyundai Motor said it plans to produce electric vehicles in the U.S. and other countries in the future. If labor-management conflicts arise over the distribution of jobs and supplies at the time of the conversion of electric vehicles, competitiveness will inevitably decline.
The pledges of the two finalists focus on increasing wages while reducing working hours. Major common pledges include shortening working hours 7+7 (2 shifts each 7 hours), raising basic salaries, extending retirement age, distributing performance for MZ generation, and attracting core parts factories for electric vehicles.
Candidate No. 4 Hyun-ho Ahn won the most votes (34%) in the first vote who led Hyundai Motor’s struggle against layoffs in 1998. It pledged to raise basic salaries, such as an one-hour paid meal time, 800 percent bonuses, and 30 percent of operating profit.
Candidate No. 2 Oh-il Kwon won 32% of the votes who has a history of serving the head of external cooperation and struggling to support non-full time workers. The main pledges include a complete salary system, including a basic salary increase, equalization of supplies, and strengthening union intervention in electric vehicle production.
Other carmaker’s new branch election are also likely to be elected as strong executives. GM Korea will determine the results of the new branch election on the 8th. Kia is also scheduled to complete the branch election by the end of the year.
By Staff Reporter Chi-yeon Jung (chiyeon@etnews.com)