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Kim Ki-yong(51), an employee of a subcontractor of Hyundai Motor, was drinking soju on the evening of Jan. 14, with a little kimchi stew on the side. To save money, he drank the liquor at home, but emptied only a half of the bottle. "I tried not to drink. But having nothing to do I come home at 5 p.m. in the afternoon if we have no extra work. I earn less but spend more. It's really hard."
On Jan. 15 when Hyundai Motor's unionized workers went on strike, this reporter met Kim at his company's production line in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. He lives in Incheon with his wife and 19-year-old son, but stays in a single rented room of 16.5 sq.m near his company. He used to operate a supermarket and a restaurant but started working here three years ago, when his business went bankrupt. His son is starting college this year, and Kim has a hard time finding the entrance fee. He can earn about W1.1 million(US$1=W937) a month if he works overtime. Of that, he sends W400,000 home. ¡°That is the last thing I can be proud of as head of my family,¡± he says.
But Kim's pride was dealt its last blow this month. When the Hyundai Motor union boycotted overtime and extra work, Kim's company also suspended overtime at its production lines in concert with Hyundai's work schedule. For more than 15 days, Kim hasn't worked a single hour¡¯s overtime. He got his monthly salary of W800,000 on Jan. 10, of which he sent W200,000 home. "I feel all the more sorry because my wife didn't ask me about the W200,000..." Kim breaks off. "Hyundai's union members get a monthly salary of W3-4 million. If they understood that poor people like us, who barely make ends meet, are in a desperate situation due to their strike, would they still go on strike so frequently?"
There are many people like Kim across the country. About 4,700 subcontractors with about 300,000 workers supply parts and components to Hyundai Motor. Except for a few large-scale suppliers like Mando, such subcontractors are all small or mid-sized businesses. The workers on the production lines of smaller suppliers earn little more than W1 million a month, and then only if they work overtime. But if Hyundai Motor's unionized workers, whose average annual salary is W50 million, reject extra or overtime work for more than 15 days, they get less than W 800,000.
Thanks to the conclusion of negotiations on Wednesday, Hyundai Motor's union members will earn an ¡°incentive¡± instead of the controversial year-end bonus. But this is not the case for the staff of subcontractors. There is no way they can retrieve the lost overtime. In the aftermath of the strike by affluent union members, subcontractors' staff are in a desperate situation where they have no way to raise money for their children's education and their family's living expenses.
In that sense, Hyundai Motor is also an accomplice. Hyundai has allegedly incurred a loss of W10.27 trillion due to strikes over the past 20 years. Subcontractors claim that Hyundai has shifted the responsibility for the loss onto their shoulders. The production manager of a supplier in Gyeonggi Province says, "Hyundai Motor makes up for its annual loss of hundreds of billions of won by swindling suppliers like us."
Hyundai Motor's unionized workers strike every year, and management seeks quiet compromises with the union. Their actions are a concerted assault on the employees of its subcontractors. Who will stand up for their rights?
The column was contributed by Cho Jung-shik from The Chosun Ilbo's National/Society desk.
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