GM Korea workers carried out two days of partial strikes at the company’s domestic plants earlier this week after they failed to reach an agreement over the last month with management over wage increases.
Workers at the South Korean manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors held four-hour strikes on both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, union spokesman Dang Sung-geun confirmed, adding that union leaders were scheduled to hold a meeting on Thursday to decide on further strike action.
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Unions are demanding a 5.7% basic salary increase for 2019 as well as performance-related bonuses worth 2.5 months of wages and a cash bonus worth KRW6.5m (US$5,390) per worker.
These demands were rejected by management, which pointed out that the company had not yet returned to profitability since it was rescued by its parent company last year amid continuing difficult business conditions both in its domestic market and overseas.
In the first seven months of 2019 GM Korea’s global sales dropped by 7.2% to 263,023 units, with domestic sales down by more than 17% at 42,352 units and exports almost 5% lower at 220,671 units.
Unions have also asked GM Korea management to present its long-term plan for the Bupyeong II plant in Incheon, just west of the capital city Seoul, after the Bupyeong I plant was awarded production of the all-new Trailblazer SUV. Unions are trying to secure additional models for the Bupyeong II plant to be produced alongside the Malibu and Trax models.
GM Korea has a production capacity of 600,000 vehicles per year, including the Changwon Plant in the south of the country, after the Gunsan plant was closed in May of last year.
