This file photo shows the west gate of GM Korea’s Bupyeong plant in Incheon, just west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., unveiled its intention not to allocate a new model to one of its South Korean plants, igniting strong backlash from its labor union.
During its wage negotiations with the labor union on Monday, the management of GM Korea delivered a complementary plan highlighting its intention not to allocate a new model to the No. 2 Bupyeong plant in Incheon, just west of Seoul.
The Bupyeong plant has been engaged in the production of the Trax compact SUV and mid-sized Malibu sedan.
GM Korea set no production plan to follow up the phase out of these models, raising concerns that this plant would be shut down or there would be major restructuring of its 1,000-plus workers.
Management, however, hinted that it could extend the plant’s TRAX and Malibu production schedule for a certain period of time depending on the market situation.
“We have continuously asked management to present the future development plan for the Bupyeong plant. Management, however, just said it’s difficult to allocate a new model to the plant. We cannot accept the management’s complementary plan,” an union official said.
In the meantime, the union has carried out 14 rounds of wage negotiations with the management since July 22. The two parties, however, failed to narrow their different standpoints on the value of performance-based bonuses.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
