Union Negotiation Success in Korea: Congrats to GM Korea

Reuters reported that GM Korea and its union has likely come to a tentative wage concession agreement with the Korean union. The agreement will be put to vote at a union meeting this week. The deal is great news for GM Korea, the union and Korea. Korean unions have a reputation for radicalism and violence, thus, making many potential investors choose other destinations without these same labor relation issues. I have, personally, seen too many of my clients choose other destinations because of these issues.

GM Korea has, generally, successfully navigated these often murky waters, since its acquisition of Daewoo Motors.

The Reuters report notes that:

The agreement came after factory workers at GM Korea staged a series of partial strikes in July and August, and includes a basic salary increase of 80,564 Korean won ($71.23), a bonus of 5 million won and a one-off payment of 3 million won, among others. Regarding the most contentious issue of scrapping overnight work, the two sides agreed to test-run a new shift scheme in the first quarter of 2013 and to decide on the time frame for the new system in the second quarter of that year.

GM Korea is one of the U.S. automaker’s key Asia production bases, producing a quarter of GM’s Chevrolet cars sold globally, and 98 percent of Chevy cars sold in Europe.

The Reuters article may be found at: GM Korea, Union Reaches Tentative Wage Deal
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SeanHayes@ipglegal.com