{"id":85044,"date":"2026-07-14T00:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/85044\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T00:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:50:17","slug":"the-ai-robots-wont-strike-so-hyundais-workers-did-it-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/85044\/","title":{"rendered":"The AI Robots Won\u2019t Strike, So Hyundai\u2019s Workers Did It First"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Korean employees are striking over pay, profit sharing and fears humanoid robots could replace factory jobs <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/author\/chris-chilton-cc\/
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by Chris Chilton<\/a><\/p>\n

4 hours ago<\/p>\n

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Hyundai workers in Korea began a partial strike over pay and job security.<\/p>\n

The union seeks richer profit sharing before humanoid robots reach factories.<\/p>\n

Automation may boost efficiency, but robots will not stage industrial strikes.<\/p>\n

Electrification isn\u2019t the only major change happening in the car industry right now. Behind the scenes robots are starting to infiltrate auto plants<\/a> and real human workers are so worried Hyundai employees have announced strike action.<\/p>\n

More: America Asked For More Manufacturing Jobs, So Hyundai\u2019s Sending Humanoid Robots<\/a><\/p>\n

Workers at Hyundai\u2019s South Korean plants have begun a three-day rolling strike after wage negotiations broke down. Instead of walking out completely, employees are leaving their shifts two hours early through Wednesday while union leaders continue talks with management in hopes of avoiding a longer dispute, Bloomberg reports.<\/p>\n

The Fight Isn\u2019t Just About Wages<\/p>\n

Money is a major sticking point. The union wants a bigger base pay increase, richer bonuses, and a profit-sharing system linked to the company\u2019s annual earnings. Members argue that if employees at technology companies are sharing in the rewards from the AI<\/a> boom, workers building the vehicles should benefit too.<\/p>\n


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But the strike isn\u2019t just about more cash today, it\u2019s about ensuring workers will still be getting paid tomorrow. The automaker has already announced plans to introduce Hyundai<\/a>-owned Boston Dynamics\u2019 Atlas humanoid robot into US factories starting in 2028.<\/p>\n

Related: GM Added 50 \u2018Cobots\u2019 To A Plant Where It Just Laid Off Over 1,000 Workers<\/a><\/p>\n

The machines are expected to begin with repetitive logistics work before eventually taking on more sophisticated assembly tasks by the decade\u2019s end. So the union wants formal negotiations before robots are introduced, protections for employee income as automation expands, and an extension of the retirement age from 60 to 65.<\/p>\n

Hyundai isn\u2019t exactly blazing a lonely trail here. Tesla, Mercedes-Benz<\/a>, BMW<\/a>, Toyota, Mitsubishi, BYD, Chery and several other manufacturers are investing heavily in humanoid robots and AI-powered automation. Whether it\u2019s moving parts around a warehouse or helping assemble cars, the industry clearly believes robots will become a familiar sight inside tomorrow\u2019s factories.<\/p>\n

Workers Stand Together, Bosses Stand Firm<\/p>\n


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For Hyundai, though, the strike action is going to be inconvenient and expensive. South Korea remains the heart of its manufacturing operation, with roughly half of its global vehicle volume built there. Even relatively short production stoppages can quickly translate into thousands of missing vehicles and hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. But the company isn\u2019t backing down.<\/p>\n

Also: Hyundai\u2019s Latest Robots May Be Eyeing Your Job<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPast strikes have yielded nothing but irreversible production losses, lost wages and harsh criticism from our customers and the public,\u201d domestic production chief Choi Yeong Il warned in a statement reported by Bloomberg<\/a>. Hyundai won\u2019t compensate workers for wages lost during the industrial action, he added.<\/p>\n

Of course, if humanoid robots eventually take over enough jobs, Hyundai might not have to go through this rigmarole again. The assembly line might still stop for software updates, but at least management probably won\u2019t have to negotiate with a picket line of Atlas robots<\/a> demanding bigger bonuses. Well, until they become sentient, of course.<\/p>\n


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Hyundai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Korean employees are striking over pay, profit sharing and fears humanoid robots could replace factory jobs https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/author\/chris-chilton-cc\/ by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[295,294,293,12321,31,2204,907,915],"class_list":["post-85044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hyundai","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-group","tag-hyundai-motor-group","tag-industry","tag-korea","tag-reports","tag-robots","tag-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85044","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=85044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}