[Reporter's Notebook] Hyundai Motor Production Line Also Halted Eight Years Ago

In 2018, a labor-management dispute over increasing production of the Genesis G70 at Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant halted a production line for about 16 hours and 30 minutes. A similar incident occurred again this year, eight years later. This time, production was suspended for more than 24 working hours during the process of introducing G80 hybrid test cars. The models and duration were different, but the dispute centered on workforce allocation.

At the time, a union delegate pressed the production line's stop button to demand additional staffing for the G70 production increase. The company incurred fixed-cost losses of about 1.6 billion won. The delegate was sentenced the following year to six months in prison, suspended for two years, in a first-trial ruling on charges of obstructing business. The court rejected the claim that the action was justified, taking into account, among other things, that the company had held several rounds of talks with the union.

The production stoppage on November 2 also stemmed from efforts to determine the staffing needed to produce new vehicles. Ahead of mass production of the G80 hybrid and the refreshed G90, Hyundai Motor sought to hold man-hour (MH) talks. Man-hours measure the labor required to build one vehicle and serve as the basis for calculating production staffing. However, the talks made no progress as shop-floor union delegates opposed the possibility of workforce reductions. When management tried to bring G80 hybrid test cars onto the production line, the union blocked them, bringing even the line producing existing vehicles to a halt.

The production line resumed operations on November 3 after the company put the test-car rollout on hold and the union agreed to take part in talks. The man-hour talks were subsequently reported to have been concluded. Hyundai Motor plans to introduce 52 test cars in stages starting November 11. It is fortunate that the dispute has been resolved for now, but the decision to halt production over an issue that should have been resolved through talks is worth reconsidering.

Alongside the dispute over workforce allocation, work practices on the shop floor also warrant attention. Recently, 38 employees at Ulsan Plant 5's assembly shop were disciplined for failing to follow standard procedures, including a practice known as "dubaltwigi." Under this informal arrangement, one person does the work of two while the other rests, and then they switch roles. Last year, 14 employees were disciplined for the same practice in another process, but it has not disappeared. If the practice of disregarding established work procedures continues even as workers raise concerns that workforce reductions could increase their workload, the union's arguments will be less persuasive.

The union's concerns about job security are understandable. Adjustments to staffing for new vehicle production could also lead to a heavier workload. That, however, does not justify trying to resolve labor-management disagreements by stopping production. Management, for its part, must explain the need for staffing adjustments using objective workload data and address workers' concerns.

Hyundai Motor is competing fiercely with global automakers. Its ability to produce new vehicles on time and deliver them to the market determines its competitiveness. What is needed is not damage control after production has stopped, but a reasonable staffing-calculation and consultation system that can prevent disputes. The model has changed from the G70 to the G80, but Hyundai Motor's labor and management still have issues to resolve.

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