Hyosung Heavy Industries Office and Technical Employees' Union to Launch 72-Hour All-Out Strike; Company Says "Operations to Continue as Normal"

Union declares negotiations deadlocked and launches strike
Company: "Held six rounds of talks... will respond in line with principles"

The office and technical employees' union at Hyosung Heavy Industries has declared wage and collective bargaining negotiations deadlocked and will launch a three-day strike starting Nov. 4. The company expressed regret, saying the union was pressing ahead with the strike without sufficient consultation.

A view of Hyosung Heavy Industries' Changwon plant. Hyosung Heavy Industries

According to industry sources on Nov. 3, the Hyosung Heavy Industries office and technical employees' union will strike for 72 hours, from Nov. 4 to 6. On Nov. 2, the union secured the legal right to take industrial action after the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission decided to suspend mediation.

The union is demanding a 10% annual increase in base pay, the establishment of criteria for performance-based bonuses, and a narrowing of welfare benefit gaps between job groups. It argues that improvements in the company's performance have not been adequately reflected in employee compensation, even though its consolidated operating profit rose 106% from the previous year to 747 billion won in 2025.

The union says it will escalate its strike if the company does not present a more constructive bargaining proposal after the three-day walkout.

In response, Hyosung Heavy Industries issued a statement on Nov. 3, saying, "We deeply regret the office and technical employees' union's notice of an all-out strike."

The company said it had held six rounds of negotiations and separate working-level consultations and had presented a collective agreement proposal, but the union declared negotiations deadlocked and requested mediation without even reviewing the proposed wage plan. The company said, "We strongly question whether the union entered negotiations with a strike in mind from the outset, given that it did not even consult with us on the wage proposal."

The company also pushed back against the suspension of working hours exempted from work for union officials, saying the measure was necessary to comply with the statutory limit. It said granting additional exempted hours to the office and technical employees' union, given the hours already allocated to the existing production workers' union, could exceed the legal limit.

The company said operations at its Changwon Plant would not be disrupted even if the strike goes ahead, as production-site workers are not included in the strike.

A Hyosung Heavy Industries official said, "We will not make concessions without principle or accept one-sided demands under pressure from a strike. We will do our utmost to conduct negotiations in accordance with the law and procedures and maintain normal business operations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.