In a joint letter to the Korean-based company, the Korean, German and Czech trade unions told the company’s board:
Hyundai Company’s Core Values clearly state that your company supports a culture of a cooperative relationship with the employees and a respectful approach in a global context.
Unfortunately, we, the Unions with members in Hyundai companies, have to note that Hyundai’s management globally violates repeatedly these core values by trying to undermine the rights of their employees and their legitimate employees’ representative bodies at many of the sites. Furthermore, these serious violations are accompanied by management’s illegal methods aimed at overriding the rightful decisions by the employees’ representatives.
The unions specifically demanded that Hyundai begins to respect national and international law, begins to respect labour standards especially recognizing trade unions, and demanded immediate discussions toward establishing a Global Framework Agreement.
IndustriALL Global Union’s General Secretary Jyrki Raina wrote to Hyundai CEO Mr. Mong-Koo Chung, conveying IndustriALL’s support for the three unions’ demands:
In order to achieve the full implementation of internationally recognized workers’ rights at Hyundai, we urge you to sit down with workers’ representatives to start a meaningful dialogue towards the establishment of a Global Framework Agreement.