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Union vote in South Korea increases pressure on Hyundai and exposes the advancement of humanoid robots with artificial intelligence in factories, in a dispute involving employment, wages, retirement, bonuses, and workers’ participation in decisions on industrial automation.
Hyundai workers in South Korea approved a strike amid a deadlock with the automaker over the advancement of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots in factories.
According to the Financial Times, 87% of the approximately 40,000 members of the local union voted in favor of the strike, after the company announced plans related to the use of the Atlas robot, developed by Boston Dynamics.
Conducted by the Hyundai workers’ representation linked to the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, the vote does not mean an immediate strike, but authorizes the category to use the strike as a pressure tool in negotiations.
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At the center of the dispute is the employees’ participation in decisions about automation, as the union wants to have a say on the introduction of AI systems and humanoid robots in activities currently performed by workers.
Strike at Hyundai gains strength with Atlas advancement
Tension increased after Hyundai Motor Group detailed its AI robotics strategy during CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where the company presented plans to expand integration between robots and production lines.
According to Hyundai, robots trained at the Robotics Metaplant Application Center in the United States are expected to be used from 2028 in repetitive sequencing tasks, before advancing to more complex assembly activities by 2030.
Although the automaker claims to seek a “safe and collaborative” relationship between humans and robots, starting with manufacturing environments, the arrival of AI machines has increased union insecurity about the future of jobs.
Controlled by Hyundai Motor Group, Boston Dynamics developed the Atlas, a humanoid robot presented within a strategy aimed at so-called physical AI, a term used for systems capable of operating in real environments with the support of artificial intelligence models.
Union demands participation in decisions on automation
In addition to the technological agenda, the workers are demanding a salary increase, raising the retirement age from 60 to 65 years, and a performance bonus equivalent to 30% of the company’s net profit.
According to the Financial Times, the package of demands includes greater influence over the adoption of new technologies, a point considered essential by the union to prevent industrial changes from being implemented without prior agreement with the employees.
Among the union members, the main concern is that robots with greater operational capacity could reduce the demand for human labor on production lines, especially in repetitive tasks that currently support part of the manufacturing operation.
This clash occurs at a time of pressure on the global automotive industry, with Hyundai facing a drop in profitability associated with trade tariffs, high supply chain costs, and a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles.
Even under financial pressure, the company maintains expansion plans in robotics and states that it intends to establish, by 2028, a scalable production system capable of manufacturing 30,000 robotic units per year.
Humanoid robots enter the center of the negotiation
In Hyundai’s view, the use of robots should target repetitive and higher-risk activities, with the potential to reduce physical effort and increase industrial efficiency within the group’s factories.
This justification, however, has not eliminated union resistance, as workers demand concrete guarantees about employment, participation in decisions, and limits on the implementation of technologies that could alter team composition.
According to the strategy disclosed by the automaker, Atlas will be trained with data and manufacturing environments from the group itself, in a process aimed at accelerating the development, validation, and application of robots in industrial operations.
Hyundai also plans to expand the use of these technologies in areas such as logistics, construction, energy, and facility management, which reinforces the corporate bet on automation and artificial intelligence applied to the physical world.
In practice, the dispute places Hyundai at the center of a debate that goes beyond the automotive industry and involves productivity, safety, professional qualification, and job preservation in sectors with a strong union presence.
In recent years, Hyundai’s union has already resorted to strikes in negotiations over salaries, bonuses, and retirement, although many previous impasses have been resolved before broader stoppages.
The last general strike occurred in 2018, according to the report, but the current vote puts the issue back on the labor agenda in a scenario where automation has become central to negotiations.
As a result, automation has taken a decisive place at the negotiating table, while Hyundai seeks to advance an industrial strategy that combines robotics, artificial intelligence, and large-scale production by the end of the decade.
