Workers at Renault Samsung set up new trade union

(ATTN: ADDS response from management from para 8) SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- Workers at Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault SA., said Monday that they have launched a new trade union to advance the rights of members. The newly formed labor union consisting of 200 members effectively marks the first time that a union has been set up at the carmaker, which has 5,650 employees. A union was set up with nine members in 2009, but it has largely been inactive. "Recruitment of union members will start this week mainly from workers at the carmaker's manufacturing plant in Busan," a spokesman for the union said. Of the total number of employees, about 4,000 are engaged in the production of automobiles. The launch of the new trade union comes after South Korea adopted a multiple trade union system as of July 1, which permits workers to be represented by more than one labor group in a company. The Renault Samsung union, which held its first formal meeting in Busan, the nation's largest port city, about 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, also said that it has joined the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU). The joining of the KMWU makes Renault Samsung, which sold 52,602 vehicles in the first half of the year, the last of South Korea's seven automakers to join the umbrella union. Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co. and Ssangyong Motor Co. are all members of the large industry-wide union along with Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co. and Daewoo Bus Corp. In response to the launch of the trade union, Renault Samsung managers held an emergency meeting to discuss the company's future course of action, although company president Jean-Marie Hurtiger was absent as he is in France at the moment. Executives said that since more than 90 percent of all employees were currently members of the workers representatives committee, the company's de facto union, it did not plan to change its negotiation partner in labor-related talks for the foreseeable future. The committee reached an agreement in early July for a monthly pay raise of 100,200 won (US$92.6), marking the 11th year in a row that annual wage negotiations were settled without a walkout. "The unexpected creation of the trade union has raised uncertainties, but the company plans to adhere to the country's labor law on this matter," a company executive said. "In order for the new union to represent workers at the negotiating table, it must have at least half of all employees as its member." The company, meanwhile, is in the process of welcoming Francois Provost as its new president in September after Hurtiger has held the top post for the past five years.