Catherwood LibraryILR School

In light of General Motors’ struggles to turn a profit in South Korea, the labor union which represents employees of GM’s factories is fighting intense pressure from conservative media and policymakers to make serious concessions to the company in order to keep GM from having to leave the country. Given serious attempts by GM to lower costs at South Korean plants by primarily targeting employee benefits and salaries, labor leaders have attempted to defend workers’ rights and contracts as much as they possibly can. As a result of the suspension of negotiations between management and labor, both parties appeared unwilling to compromise and the fate of GM appeared sealed. However, union representatives have felt the pressure of politicians and businesspeople around the country to keep GM from failure. Now that negotiations have been reinitiated between the parties, it appears that the union is willing to make necessary concessions, hopefully without an abuse of power on GM’s behalf.