The First Joint Bargaining With Subcontract Workers Targets Performance Bonuses While Industry-Wide Bonus Disputes Spread
The union at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is making a strike at the Ulsan plant on Aug. 29 of 2025. (Photo provided by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union)
The union at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. has finalized a demand for a 30% share of the company’s operating profit in this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations. For the first time since the company’s founding, this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries are being conducted simultaneously by both the regular workers’ union and the in-house subcontractor union. While the prime contractor and subcontractors are negotiating at separate bargaining tables, the talks have drawn wide attention from South Korea’s manufacturing sector, as the central agenda item is squarely focused on “performance sharing.”
The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union announced on May 13 that it had drawn up this year’s wage and collective bargaining demands at an extraordinary delegate conference held on May 12. The union stated, “Record-breaking operating profits are the result of the sweat and skills of workers on the shop floor,” and demanded that “30% of the company’s operating profit be shared as performance bonuses.” The union projected the company’s operating profit for 2026 at 3.628 trillion won (approximately $2.46 billion).
The union also demanded a base wage increase of 149,600 won excluding the seniority increment of 35,000 won as well as a 100% increase in bonuses. Together with the Shipbuilding Industry Union Solidarity, the union also plans to demand the establishment of institutional protections for labor rights and employment security in the event that artificial intelligence (AI) is introduced on the production floor.
The union will officially submit its demands to the company on May 20, with full-scale negotiations set to begin following an initial meeting in the following month.
On the same day, the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union and the in-house subcontractor chapter jointly held a briefing session at Dong-gu District Office in Ulsan to publicly present their wage and collective bargaining demands for this year. It is the first time in South Korea’s labor sector that a prime contractor union and a subcontractor union have come together in one place to jointly explain their bargaining positions.
The subcontractor union is calling for performance bonuses equivalent to those received by workers at the prime contractor, insisting that “the sweat of workers cannot be graded.” The subcontractor union also demanded a flat base wage increase of 149,600 won, equal payments of 700,000 won for Lunar New Year and Chuseok allowances and summer vacation pay, and guaranteed participation in the Occupational Safety and Health Committee.
The subcontractor union submitted its bargaining demands last month, but the company has requested additional verification regarding the number of union members and the scope of the bargaining unit. At HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, approximately 23,900 workers are employed through more than 270 in-house subcontracting firms, though only about 130 workers across 8 firms are affiliated with the in-house subcontractor union.
Meanwhile, a growing number of unions including that of Samsung Electronics are demanding that a set percentage of operating or net profit be paid out as performance bonuses, with the resulting disputes spreading across the broader industrial sector. The Kakao union is set to hold a rally on May 20 and launch collective action. With wage negotiations including over performance bonuses having broken down, the possibility of the first-ever strike at the company’s headquarters since its founding has been raised. Kakao reportedly offered the union performance bonuses equivalent to around 10% of operating profit, while the union has demanded 13% to 15%.
The Samsung Biologics union also staged the company’s first-ever strike since its founding, demanding 20% performance bonuses. Even after the strike ended, the union has continued a work-to-rule campaign by refusing overtime and holiday work. The LG Uplus union recently clashed head-on with management by demanding 30% of operating profit. Demands for higher performance bonuses are spreading beyond prime contractors to partner firms and locally hired employees at overseas subsidiaries. The unions at Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have demanded in this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations that 30% of last year’s net profit be paid out as performance bonuses. If the unions’ demands were met in full, Hyundai Motor would need to pay out 3.11 trillion won in performance bonuses out of last year’s net profit of 10.3648 trillion won.
Jung Suk-yee
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