Hyundai Motor workers aim to buck trend in global auto industry

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- While the global auto industry has been reeling from
what many economists say is the worst economic slump since World War II, the
labor union of Hyundai Motor Co. is demanding the company increase working hours
for more pay despite cooling demand.
The 45,000-strong union of Hyundai, South Korea's top automaker, decided to vote
on a strike motion as early as next month, calling for the company to live up to
a pledge to increase working hours to 17 hours a day in two shifts.
Hyundai and its union had agreed to introduce the two working-hour shifts on a
trial basis at its bus plant in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, this
month, but problems emerged as Hyundai was forced to cut daily working hours to
eight to deal with the current economic downturn.
Fewer working hours mean falling income for Hyundai's factory workers. More than
30 percent of monthly salary for a Hyundai worker comes from overtime work,
according to the company.
Hyundai recently said it was cutting its first-quarter production by as much as
30 percent at its South Korean plants, which account for about half of its total
output, as the global economic downturn sapped demand for new vehicles worldwide.

On Monday, about 400 union leaders supported the strike motion, which should be
approved by their rank-and-file union members.
So far, no strike motion by union leaders has been rejected at Hyundai, whose
union has gone strike every year but one since it was inaugurated in 1987.
"We agreed on the strike motion as the management didn't keep their pledge of two
working-hour shifts," said Chang Kyo-ho, a union spokesman.
Chang said the union members will vote on the strike motion after the Lunar New
Year holiday, which begins on Monday.
Hyundai officials urged the union to withdraw its move to strike, saying the
company's survival is at risk.
"The union's strike should be immediately withdrawn at a time when the company's
survival is most important," said an official at Hyundai.
The strike motion also comes as international ratings agencies cut their credit
ratings for Hyundai amid slumping vehicle demand.
Last week, Fitch Ratings cut Hyundai's debt ratings to BB+, or junk status.
Standard & Poor's also lowered its outlook on Hyundai to "negative" from
"stable," citing deterioration in global automobile markets.
Automakers around the world are struggling to survive. General Motors Corp., Ford
Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC in the United States are teetering on the verge of
bankruptcy and have begged for a bailout from their government.
Even Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. has been cutting output amid expectations it may
post its first annual loss for the first time in 58 years and reduced production.

Amid a sense of industry crisis, the Hyundai workers also appear to be losing
public support.
"The selfish acts by Hyundai Motor's labor union go beyond the limit," the
English-language JoongAng Daily newspaper said in an editorial earlier in the
day.
"The Hyundai Motor union must abandon its plan to undertake strikes that even its
own members disagree with," it said. "If the union stages strikes now, when it
should work harder, it will only face a catastrophe."
Shares of Hyundai fell 2.72 percent to 42,850 won at one point in morning trading
on Tuesday.
(END)