The labor and management confrontation at Hyundai Motor over the wage peak system gets aggravated. The contention on this agenda is overwhelming enough to soak up all other agendas tabled to the collective bargaining rounds, since negotiators from both sides first met in May made no progress.
The reason for the stalled negotiation is simple, as it is a debate over which side should take the financial pains to create new recruits. While the company argues that the necessary budget should come from the wage cuts, trade union insists that the company owner should contribute some of his wealth for the company.
The current retirement age at Hyundai Motor is 60 years old. When the workers reach the age of 59, they are paid with the 10% deduction of their base wages and at the age of 60 with additional 10% cut. This year 510 workers are to retire and 741 in 2017.
A total of 12,860 workers who are dubbed as baby boomers(born in 1956~63) will retire by 2013 which is 27.2% of the current union membership(47,331).