KCTU accuses Hyundai Motor of suppressing workers at its India plant

Posted on : 2008-09-25 12:16 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Automaker fired, forcibly relocated and made degrading comments about unionized workers, KCTU says
 chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company
chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of two umbrella labor groups in South Korea, accused Hyundai Motor Company of suppressing the activities of unionized workers at its subsidiary in India.

In a press conference yesterday, the KCTU announced the results of its survey of labor activities at the South Korean automaker’s Indian plant, and urged Hyundai to stop suppressing the plant’s workers. KCTU officials visited Hyundai Motor India Limited in April to conduct the survey.

The KCTU also criticized the South Korean government for preventing two union officials at the India plant from traveling to South Korea, saying it is blocking the union’s activity to engage in international exchange. The government rejected the officials’ applications for entry visas in July, saying they had engaged in illegal activity. The two leaders have not been indicted.

KCTU Vice Chairman Park Jeong-gon, who visited the Hyundai plant in India, said, “Hyundai Motor India is refusing to recognize a legitimate labor union, and committed illegal acts when it fired 12 union officials and forcibly reassigned seven others to a site thousands of kilometers away from the plant.”

The union of Hyundai Motor India was established in July 2007 and over 1,000 out of the plant’s 1,750 employees joined the union as registered members. Park said Hyundai Motor India, which does not recognize the union, has refused to engage in negotiations with it.

Hyundai Motor India sued some 50 union officials following a skirmish that erupted when the company destroyed a union flag and bulletin board in late April, the KCTU said. “There were cases of human rights violations after (Hyundai Motor India) posted an article depicting the workers as dogs on an intra-company bulletin board,” Park said.

The KCTU also reported that working conditions at the Indian plant are poor. Apprentice employees and subcontracted workers account for 70 to 80 percent of the total number of workers at the plant and industrial accidents have claimed the lives of five workers over the past year, according to the KCTU. Early this month, 95 union officials launched a hunger strike in protest after seven workers were injured in a fire at the plant, the KCTU said.

The KCTU urged Hyundai Motor to recognize the labor union at its plant in India, stop committing illegal acts against its workers and withdraw the lawsuits against the union officials, saying that Hyundai is a big company that wants to become a world-class corporation by increasing the number of overseas plants, but when it comes to labor relations it has failed to get out of its old-world mindset.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]