Hyundai Motor union votes against joining temporary workers' strike

ULSAN, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- The regular workers' union of Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday that its members overwhelmingly voted against joining a strike by temporary workers at South Korea's largest automaker.

About 560 temporary workers of Hyundai Motor had staged a sit-in at the firm's major factory in Ulsan since Nov. 15, demanding permanent regular employee status from the company's management. They halted the strike last week when negotiations began with the management but prospects of a breakthrough is not certain.

The irregular workers, hired by a Hyundai Motor subcontractor, demand the automaker abide by a Supreme Court ruling in July that contract employees should be considered as permanent workers if they have worked there for more than two years. Hyundai has deferred action, saying the case is not yet legally concluded as it has been remanded to the high court.

The regular workers' union said in a press release that it put to vote whether to join the irregular workers if they resume the strike, and 77 percent of its members voted down the idea.

In the week-long vote in which 35,867 workers, or 81 percent of the union's membership, participated, only 20.4 percent, or 9,004 people, voted in favor of joining the strike, the lowest rate in the union's history. The votes of the other 2.4 percent were invalid, the union said.