Chosun Ilbo, Seoul

Auto Unions to Join Metal Workers in FTA Strike

12 June 2007

The labor unions of Hyundai Motor and sister company Kia Motors have invited public criticism by deciding to stage a "political" strike against the recently concluded Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.

The Hyundai/Kia unions said Monday that they will strike for five days starting June 25 to prevent the trade deal being ratified by the National Assembly.

The decision comes after a June 8 announcement by the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, with which the Hyundai/Kia unions are affiliated, that it would strike against the trade treaty without even holding a vote among its members.

A labor expert said it could harm national interests and the public would not approve if the auto unions go on strike against the FTA. Korea’s automakers are seen as being among the biggest potential beneficiaries of the trade pact.

Meanwhile, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in the U.S. presidential race, on Saturday expressed her opposition to the FTA, saying it would harm the U.S. auto industry.

Clinton made the remarks at an event in Detroit, Michigan, hosted by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO), America’s largest labor confederation.