The president of Hyundai Motor urged its union on Monday to drop a planned strike in protest at South Korea's free trade pact with the United States, saying "customers won't forgive" such a stoppage.
The union plans a five-day walkout starting next Monday in compliance with a strike call from its umbrella body, the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, to press the government to scrap the deal.
"If we, denounced by people for frequent strikes, have a political walkout again, the market and customers won't forgive us," president Yeon Yeo-Chul said in an e-mail to employees. He said few would understand the action because the automaker will benefit greatly from the deal.
"If Hyundai Motor, a major beneficiary of the South Korea-US free trade agreement, launches a political strike against it, who on earth will understand its cause?" Yeon said. He noted that local media had accused the union of skipping a mandatory vote on the strike plan for fear they would lose it. South Korean laws also ban unions from striking for political purposes.
Civic group and business leaders in the southern industrial city of Ulsan, home to Hyundai Motor's main factories, on Sunday urged the union to retract its plan for the sake of the city's economy. Strikes or go-slows have been annual routines for Hyundai Motor since its union was launched in 1987. Last year the company lost production of 115,683 vehicles worth 1.6 trillion won (1.7 billion dollars) because of strikes lasting 17 days.
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