![\"Choi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-p.v1.20260506.165f6a1c44b247ac8c2c77db53b9d9db_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Hyundai")
Choi Young-il, CEO of Hyundai Motor.<\/p>\nChoi Young-il, CEO of Hyundai Motor.<\/p>\n
Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) management signaled it would be difficult to accept the union’s demand for 30% of net profit as performance bonuses, urging workers to “face reality” during wage negotiations.<\/p>\n
According to industry sources on Tuesday, Hyundai Motor CEO Choi Young-il said at the wage negotiation kickoff meeting held at the company’s Ulsan plant on Monday, “The company is facing significant internal difficulties due to U.S. tariffs and the risk of war in the Middle East.” He added, “For Hyundai’s sustainable growth and competitive survival, please face reality.” About 60 people attended the meeting, including Choi, Korean Metal Workers’ Union Chairman Park Sang-man, Metal Workers’ Union Hyundai Motor Branch Chief Lee Jong-chul, and other labor-management negotiating representatives.<\/p>\n
Choi’s remarks emphasized that the company finds it difficult to accept the union’s wage demands given its business performance. The union previously delivered to management a set of demands that included performance bonuses equal to 30% of last year’s net profit, a monthly base pay increase of 149,600 won (excluding seniority-based raises), and guarantees on employment and working conditions related to artificial intelligence (AI). Hyundai Motor posted a net profit of 10.36 trillion won ($7.6 billion) last year, which by simple calculation would require the company to pay out more than 3 trillion won in performance bonuses under the union’s demands. That figure exceeds the 2.51 trillion won in operating profit Hyundai earned in the first quarter of this year. Management argues that the union’s demands are burdensome, especially as the earnings outlook for this year is not bright, with first-quarter operating profit plunging 30.8% year-on-year.<\/p>\n
The union reportedly took a hardline stance at the kickoff meeting, saying, “Hyundai Motor’s negotiations influence the entire Metal Workers’ Union.” Addressing management, the union said, “If you want a swift conclusion, what matters is the attitude with which you respond to legitimate demands,” and added, “We will concentrate all our efforts to push through the collective bargaining demands.” In addition to performance bonuses, the union is reportedly expected to demand the introduction of a full monthly salary system that maintains pay even when working hours are reduced, as well as the preservation of domestic production volumes to secure job stability.<\/p>\n
Industry watchers are focused on whether the union will launch a strike to press its demands. Last year’s negotiations were concluded after the union staged three rounds of partial strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Choi Young-il, CEO of Hyundai Motor. Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) management signaled it would be difficult to accept the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[5267,5265,295,702,5264,3532,5266,2774,508],"class_list":{"0":"post-6548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hyundai-motor","8":"tag-automotive-industry-labor-dispute","9":"tag-choi-young-il","10":"tag-hyundai","11":"tag-hyundai-motor","12":"tag-korean-metal-workers-union","13":"tag-performance-bonus","14":"tag-u-s-tariffs","15":"tag-ulsan-plant","16":"tag-wage-negotiations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}