Hyundai Motor Company has clarified that it remains committed to constructive engagement with the employees’ union and to reaching an agreement that supports the long-term interests of both employees and the company.
The company was in the news recently when its main car plant in Ulsan, South Korea, had reportedly seen a partial shutdown after thousands of unionised workers began striking. The dispute, it was reported at the time, was more about the company’s plans to introduce humanoid robots into its factories than about pay cuts or production targets.
However, Hyundai Motors enunciates that the union’s current demands include compensation-related issues, including wage increments, bonuses, and extension of retirement age. As per the company, potential deployment of robots in Korean production facilities is not part of the current labour-management discussions.
Rather, Hyundai’s current focus is on deployment at its Metaplant in Georgia, where Atlas will support production operations. Decisions about future Atlas deployment at other facilities will be made thoughtfully, the company promises, in accordance with local operational needs, and in dialogue with the employees and workforce representatives at those sites.
Recent media reports said that unions feared that the deployment of Atlas robots, built by Boston Dynamics, could reduce human work hours and threaten job security. Atlas is a powerful two-legged robot capable of lifting heavy loads, and Hyundai aims to roll out more than 25,000 of them across Hyundai and Kia plants worldwide, starting in the US in 2028. Analysts say each robot, costing around $130,000, could pay for itself within two years and eventually become cheaper than employing human workers.
Hyundai, however, has stated that while the union has previously expressed broader concerns about automation and future employment, it would be inaccurate to characterise the current strike as being caused by, or primarily driven by, Atlas.
