HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to refund meal costs collected from foreign workers
Foreign workers at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard hold a rally against the company’s wage system overhaul in front of the Ulsan Dongbu Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor in Dong District, Ulsan, June 17. Yonhap
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said Monday it will fully refund meal costs it had deducted from foreign workers for years, after facing resistance from migrant employees over a newly proposed wage system.
The shipbuilder announced a package of measures following consultations on improving working conditions for foreign workers from last week.
Under the revised plan, the company will provide free breakfast, lunch and dinner to all foreign workers and retroactively reimburse meal deductions made since 2023, when the company began offering three free meals a day to both direct employees and subcontractor workers. The average refund is estimated at around 7 million won ($4,600) per worker.
The company said it will also revise its bonus system by scrapping performance-based differential payments and instead providing equal bonuses to all foreign workers.
The measures come after foreign workers bristled at the company's proposed wage overhaul. Under the original proposal, HD Hyundai Heavy planned to abolish the monthly 210,000 won ($137) meal deduction but lower the base monthly salary by 168,400 won, from 2,041,200 won to 1,872,800 won. The proposal also included a fixed overtime allowance and a performance-based pay system.
Some foreign workers, however, refused to sign their employment contracts, objecting to a wage structure that kept their base salary — the basis for calculating other allowances and benefits — artificially low while assuming regular overtime work. Labor groups also joined in criticizing the proposal as a de facto wage reduction disguised as free meals.
Facing resistance, the company held additional briefing sessions in multiple languages for three days from June 30 to collect feedback from workers. It then decided to refund past meal deductions and apply bonuses equally.
“Through communication with foreign workers, we reflected opinions raised at worksites in preparing the improvement measures,” a company official said. The company added it will continue to put effort into improve overall living conditions, including meals, housing and support for their stay in Korea.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.