South Korean Public Lacks Sympathy For Auto Union Amid GM Turmoil
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Average South Koreans aren’t feeling too sorry for the nation’s auto union amid GM Korea restructuring. It shows how much has changed since the last major auto union crisis following Daewoo’s bankruptcy.
Reuters reported on Sunday just how much has changed since 2001. A 51-year-old union worker recalled incredible sympathy as he and 2,000 other workers lost their jobs in the Daewoo bankruptcy. Today, as General Motors prepares to shut down the Gunsan plant and leave 2,600 workers without a job, the public hasn’t sided with the union.
South Korea’s auto union earned a reputation for its militant practices that hasn’t played well with average South Koreans. It’s also led to high labor costs in the country, one of many factors that have contributed to GM Korea’s downward spiral. According to the report, many locals view the union as an “interest group” only concerned with protecting themselves at all costs.
The union has already agreed to no pay raises for 2018, but GM Korea and the union haven’t reached further concessions needed to avoid bankruptcy on April 20. GM is still reviewing the fate of its other three factories in the country as well. In total, GM Korea employs 16,000 workers.
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The South Korean public probably knows that the Union had been playing hardball with General Motors with demands and it sounds if they have more sympathy for General Motors than the unemployed workers.
According to labours of GM Korea, they said basic wages are too low: according to them, workers with experiences of 30 years usually get less than $3000 per month. If we can trust them, their high wages are caused by extra works in night and weekends, to supplement their “low” bagic wages. I think GM could have lowered their wages by increasing bagics, cut down extras, supplement them by introducing flexible percentage based on performance. In my opinion, night shifts and weekend jobs are could be done by turning temporary workers into pernament ones specialized for such jobs.
However, their total incomes have been high enough to be blamed by netizens, combined by the fact that Chevys for Korea are overpriced, less equipped than their equivalents. Those who I spotted around me on the internet usually say: just go away to avoid “lazy and greedy” workers, I won’t matter ‘cuz their offerings are uncompetitive, just import everything. I truly am worried of losing some important part of automobile industries of my country…I think Hyundai-Kia’s 70~80% market share could harm themselves wben if they go indolent for their homegrounds.