Hyundai Motor, Kia, GM Korea on verge of strike amid faltering wage talks

Hyundai Motor, Kia and General Motors (GM) Korea are edging closer to labor action amid their stalled wage negotiations, sparking concerns over production disruptions that could cost hundreds of billions of won.

Hyundai Motor's union will stage a two-hour partial strike each day starting Monday, as it failed to find a breakthrough in its wage negotiation with the carmaker’s management.

Unionized workers from the automaker are demanding management provide a performance bonus equivalent to 30 percent of the firm’s net profit last year — a figure seen by its management as highly excessive, as the carmaker suffered a net profit fall of more than 20 percent in 2025 in the aftermath of U.S.-imposed auto tariffs.

This year’s negotiations have also stalled over a new contentious issue: manufacturing automation driven by advances in physical artificial intelligence (AI).

Earlier this year, Hyundai Motor Group shared plans to gradually deploy Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid robots across major production facilities in Korea and overseas, prompting strong opposition from the union.

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