This could just be a tactic to end the strike, but at some point I am sure GM has some red line they have identified to close their plant in Korea if this continues:
An executive of General Motors Co., the parent company of GM Korea Co., said the U.S. automaker could withdraw from South Korea if workers at the Korean unit continue to go on strike for wage hikes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to GM Korea Thursday.
GM Korea workers have been staging several rounds of partial strikes since Oct. 30, demanding an end to a wage freeze and a new vehicle production plan at its No. 2 Bupyeong plant in Incheon, just west of Seoul.
The persistent industrial action has cost the company 17,000 vehicles in lost production, and the number is expected to reach 20,000 by the end of the week, Steve Kiefer, president of GM’s international operations, told Reuters.
After losing two major employers the city of Gunsan is facing a population flight as workers look for jobs elsewhere in the country:
A shopping district in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province is deserted on Tuesday
The closure of GM Korea’s plant in Gunsan on Thursday is emptying the southwestern industrial town of its population in a process familiar from GM headquarters’ home of Detroit.
The Gunsan plant employed around 2,000 workers, but only 15 to 20 remain to look after the sprawling 1.2 million sq.m complex.
Song Yong-sun (55) came to work on Wednesday. “I’ve worked here for the last 23 years since the plant was built back in 1995,” he said. “I thought I’d retire at this factory, but now I’m at a loss.”
It is not the only closure turning the city in North Jeolla Province into a ghost town. Last July, a Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard shut its doors after failing to win new orders. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but could you imagine what would happen to Gunsan if the US airbase outside the city ever closed as well?
Unionized workers of GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., call for the retraction of a GM decision to close GM Korea’s factory in Gunsan, 274 km south of Seoul, during a protest held amid rain near the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Feb. 28, 2018. On Feb. 13, GM announced it would close the Gunsan car assembly plant, citing low productivity. (Yonhap)
President Trump is taking credit for GM shutting down one of their factories in Gunsan and relocating to Detroit:
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed General Motors Co.’s decision to shut down a plant in South Korea, saying the carmaker will now “move back” to Detroit.
GM announced the same day that it will close one of its four car assembly plants in South Korea by the end of May due to lower demand for its vehicles. The move came as part of the Detroit-based automaker’s broad restructuring program across the world.
“GM Korea company announced today that it will cease production and close its Gunsan plant in May of 2018, and they’re going to move back to Detroit,” Trump said at a trade-related meeting at the White House.
The facility in Gunsan, 270 kilometers south of Seoul, was underutilized and running at 20 percent of its capacity for the past three years.
“You don’t hear these things, except for the fact that Trump became president,” Trump said. “Believe me, you wouldn’t be hearing that. So they’re moving back from Korea to Detroit. They’re moving.” [Korea Times]
Apparently GM is saying they are closing the plant due to higher labor costs in South Korea. GM is trying to get the union to renegotiate its labor contract to keep its other three plants in the country open.
