IWSF – Ch 256

The full-scale strike by the Eunsung Motors labor union was dragging on without any progress, just wasting time.

Being white-collar workers at a large corporation, they weren’t living hand-to-mouth, but for salaried employees, the cessation of their monthly income was devastating.

Among the union members, talks began to surface about returning to weekend overtime work. The idea was to continue the strike on weekdays but work on weekends.

It might sound strange, but weekend overtime pay is 50 percent higher than weekday pay. Therefore, working just two weekend days would earn them the equivalent of three weekday’s wages, according to their calculations.

Union leader Joo Seong-mu encouraged the members to hold on just a little longer.

As the strike approached a month, Eunsung Motors was reaching its breaking point. Sales losses had already surpassed trillions of won, and the stock price continued to plummet.

Shareholder dissatisfaction reached its peak, and rumors circulated about holding a shareholders’ meeting to replace the management.

Eventually, to preserve his position, Chairman Han Chan-young would have no choice but to come to the negotiation table first.

Meanwhile, the presidents of the partner companies visited the union collectively, pleading with tears to stop the strike.

Automotive manufacturers are linked to numerous parts suppliers. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face crisis if money stops circulating for just a few months.

If the partner companies go bankrupt in a chain reaction, even if production is restarted later, it will be difficult to secure parts. In that case, even after returning to work, it would take a long time to recover the previous production volume.

Despite these concerns, union leader Joo Seong-mu placed all blame on the company, saying that the problem would be easily resolved if the company accepted the union’s demands.

In a way, they were holding other workers’ jobs hostage to wage their struggle… but it was unavoidable.

“The deadline is just a few days away! The company will have no choice but to accept our demands!”

The union members also all believed so.

But suddenly, an announcement broke that Eunsung Motors was entering into a business agreement with OTK Company.

Eunsung Motors’ stock, as well as the entire group’s stock, surged instantly, and shareholders rejoiced. As soon as the agreement was signed, CarOS immediately redirected some of its order volume to Korea, giving the partner companies some breathing room.

The following announcement was even more shocking.

“What? OTK Company and Seosung Group are cooperating to build an electric vehicle industrial complex?”

“Annual salary of 36 million won?”

“Wait a minute. That’s less than half of our salary.”

“Then what happens to us?”

“Investing in something like that without the union’s approval!”

“Are they backstabbing us like this?”

The reason Eunsung Motors hadn’t built a new factory in Korea for over 20 years was to avoid increasing the number of domestic union members.

However, the wages of the workers newly hired this time would not be linked to those of existing Eunsung Motors employees, but rather to the wages of other workers within the industrial complex. Collective bargaining and wage increases would also proceed and be applied identically.

With this, it becomes difficult to use the current method of struggle, which is to demand wage increases only for regular employees belonging to a specific large corporation.

If the Eunsung Motors union had advocated for raising the wages of non-regular workers and partner company workers together, could they have received this level of wages?

Controversy over high wages and frequent strikes had been ongoing, and public opinion had turned extremely negative due to this prolonged strike.

In this situation, if new jobs are created with the same labor at lower wages, the monopolistic position the union has enjoyed so far will be shaken.

The union absolutely did not want new jobs that threatened their status to be created.

Now, wage increases or preferential hiring for union members’ children were no longer the issue. They had to prevent the electric vehicle industrial complex and the creation of new jobs at all costs.

Union leader Joo Seong-mu immediately distributed press releases and issued statements to the media.

“The Eunsung Motors union opposes the electric vehicle industrial complex investment, which pursues wage cuts, downward wage leveling, and job insecurity for all workers! Eunsung Motors’ participation in the electric vehicle industrial complex investment led by OTK Company is a humiliating agreement to address the issue of management succession within the Eunsung Motors Group and overcome the worst management crisis. This agreement will ultimately turn Eunsung Motors into a production base for CarOS, leading to even greater management crises and profitability deterioration in the future. If the company pushes ahead with the investment while violating the collective agreement, the union will hold the management legally responsible for breach of trust and violation of the collective agreement. Furthermore, we define this as a declaration of war on labor-management relations, and we declare that all responsibility lies with Chairman Han Chan-young and the company! The Eunsung Motors union will fight to the death to prevent this!”

***

Not only the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), to which the Eunsung Motors union belonged, but also the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) fiercely protested.

“The electric vehicle industrial complex led by OTK Company risks leveling down workers’ wages and causing conflict between workers! If CEO Kang Jin-hoo ignores this and pushes ahead, the labor community will have no choice but to respond with general strikes, mass rallies, and solidarity struggles!”

The two major labor federations immediately decided to hold a mass rally at Gwanghwamun Square on the upcoming weekend. The organizers announced that the number of participants would be as many as 50,000.

However, not all of the labor community shared the same sentiment. Small and medium-sized enterprise unions and non-regular workers couldn’t openly express it due to being mindful of the large corporation unions, but they were secretly welcoming the situation.

The political sphere and the internet were once again abuzz.

– Fucking hell Korea. When a company says they’ll create jobs, the union rises up in arms.

– They’re saying they already have high-paying jobs.

– Eunsung Motors union is on another level. They’re even suing their own company management.

– LOL, the union is shitting on their own company. Following the union members’ words, I will definitely never buy an Eunsung car in the future.

– Instead of fighting to the death, why don’t they just die?

– Wage leveling down? Bullshit. They should have taken care of partner companies and in-house non-regular workers like that.

– I also want to belong to one of the two major labor federations. But the reality is I’m a non-regular worker earning 1.8 million won a month ㅜㅜ

– I’m curious how Kang Jin-hoo will respond.

– Isn’t it simple? Just don’t invest. There are countries lined up to attract that industrial complex.

– Damn it, that can’t happen. I need to get a job ㅜㅜ

***

Almost every local government was actively trying to attract the factory. Every place was thirsty for quality jobs.

Local government heads and politicians flocked in. Among them were members of the Liberty National Party.

If they succeeded in attracting the factory, winning the local elections and general elections would be a sure thing. Because of this, even before it had started, the competition to attract the factory was already heating up.

I left the meetings with them to Senior Manager Sang-yeop. Personally, I didn’t want to get close to the political sphere, whether progressive or conservative.

But as expected, the problem I had anticipated erupted.

Dozens of Eunsung Motors union members gathered in front of OTK Company to protest. The same protest was taking place in front of Eunsung Motors.

The union declared that if Eunsung Motors did not withdraw from the industrial complex investment plan, there would be no return to work, and they would fight to the end, mobilizing all means.

I decided not to waste time and summoned union leader Joo Seong-mu and the union representatives to the company.

Middle-aged men in their 40s and 50s wearing red headbands and red vests entered the conference room. These were so-called full-time union officials who didn’t actually work in the factory but were only in charge of union-related tasks.

As they were representatives of the workers, they all exuded an unusual aura.

I reminisced about the time I negotiated with the CarOS union in the US. Fortunately, the Eunsung Motors union representatives weren’t on that level physically.

Back then, it felt like professional wrestlers had shown up. How is it even possible for people to be over 2 meters tall?

I extended my hand and said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Jin-hoo.”

“I’m Joo Seong-mu, the union leader of Eunsung Motors.”

The bald-headed man in his 50s grasped my hand. The reason for his baldness was because he had just had a head-shaving ceremony in front of the company.

Since his hair was already half gone, he actually looked better now, I thought.

We finished the awkward greetings and sat down.

“I arranged this meeting because I wanted to hear your opinions. Please feel free to say anything you want.”

Union leader Joo Seong-mu passionately spoke with a voice hoarse from shouting.

Wage leveling down, job insecurity, wage disparity, regional disparity, and so on. It was all content that had already been released in press releases and shouted in front of the company, so I knew it all.

“If 15,000 jobs are created in a specific region, 15,000 jobs will disappear in other regions. Ultimately, this will exacerbate wage disparities between regions, create new wage disparities, worsen labor-management relations, lower manufacturing competitiveness, and result in an overall economic recession!”

Taek-gyu whispered to me in a small voice, “What the hell is he talking about? Is he saying that if you create jobs, South Korea will collapse?”

“……”

I didn’t understand what he was saying either. Why is he beating around the bush like this when he could just say he wants to protect their rice bowl?

Instead of refuting his claims, I just kept listening. For over an hour, the union representatives unilaterally poured out words, and I just kept nodding.

“I see. So those are the points you are concerned about. I understand your worries well. I am ashamed of myself for trying to push forward with this without knowing about such serious concerns and worries. Thanks to you, I’ve had time to reflect on myself and deeply repent.”

Union leader Joo Seong-mu continued to shout loudly.

“Then what are you planning to do? Are you just saying you understand and planning to push ahead anyway?”

I shook my head.

“Of course not. I’m not that inconsiderate. I promise that I will never disregard the labor community and push ahead.”

At that, union leader Joo Seong-mu and the union representatives next to him wore bewildered expressions.

“Do you have anything more to say?”

After I said this much, there was no way they could have anything more to say.

The union representatives exchanged glances among themselves.

‘Did this go well?’

‘It seems like it did…’

‘But why do I feel so uneasy?’

That seemed to be the general sentiment conveyed in their eyes.

When the conversation ended, the union representatives left, and only Taek-gyu and I remained.

It was already known that the Eunsung Motors union and the two major labor federations would protest. If we ignored it and recklessly pushed ahead, it was obvious that there would be constant noise throughout the process.

Once an investment starts, it’s hard to back out. If the political sphere and local governments, mindful of the established unions, didn’t properly issue permits for the industrial complex construction or delayed the project due to environmental impact assessments, it would become a headache.

Such things actually happen frequently.

“Like how the district office prevents universities from building dormitories because studio apartment owners oppose it?”

“Exactly.”

“Taxi drivers oppose ride-sharing, and unions oppose industrial complexes. What the hell can you do in this country?”

The political sphere, which should actively step in to mediate and resolve conflicts, is just watching both sides carefully. Because if they step in carelessly, they’ll get shit on from all directions, just like me.

“To move forward with the project, we need to settle this decisively this time so that there are no further issues later.”

Taek-gyu asked, “What are you going to do?”

I grinned. “What else? We have to do as they ask.”

***

I stood in front of the media again.

“As everyone knows, Korean manufacturing is currently facing a major crisis. To overcome this crisis, Seosung Group, Eunsung Motors Group, and several SMEs cooperated to try to create new jobs, but as a result, it has only caused greater confusion. We have determined that it is impossible to recklessly push forward with the current plan in a situation where we have not reached a consensus with the labor community. Therefore, we will actively accept the labor community’s claims and completely suspend all investment plans that were planned to be carried out in Korea.”

At my words, the reporters were taken aback.

“Does that mean the electric vehicle industrial complex is cancelled?”

“What will happen to the business agreement that the three companies signed previously?”

I shook my head.

“The electric vehicle industrial complex will be built in other Asian countries, excluding Korea, to avoid the labor community’s backlash, and discussions for selecting candidate countries are already underway.”

The reporters continued to fire questions.

“Were the Seosung Group and Eunsung Motors Group sides consulted in advance about this matter?”

“Did Chairman Han Chan-young agree?”

“What is Chairman Im Jin-yong’s opinion?”

I stated firmly, “Consultation is unnecessary. I make all final decisions regarding investment plans.”

That’s why I take all the flak.

I continued my announcement, looking at the cameras.

“Autonomous driving electric vehicles are a core industry of the future, and demand is expected to explode. OTK Company, Seosung Group, and Eunsung Motors Group plan to more than double the scale of the production complex in Asia to lead the future car sector. In addition to the industrial complex that was previously announced, we will build one or two more. Of course, all additional investments will also be made in Asian countries excluding Korea. Lastly, I apologize to the Eunsung Motors union and the workers of the two major labor federations for causing concern. Therefore, I earnestly ask you to please stop the strike and return to work. That is all.”