Korean Auto Workers Strike Over Robot

“ULSAN, South Korea -- When Hyundai Motor unveiled its humanoid robot worker named "Atlas" in January, tens of thousands of Korean auto employees gaped at the 6-foot-2 robot strutting across a trade-show stage, its joints swiveling a full 360 degrees.

 

The union's response was blunt: Atlas would never step onto a production line without workers agreeing first.

 

This week, Hyundai's auto workers in South Korea have gone on a partial strike. It is the car industry's first factory stoppage addressing humanoid robots.

 

The streets of Hyundai's main auto-production hub in the city of Ulsan are lined with banners demanding "pre-emptive action" in response to the threat.

 

Negotiators after the partial strike ends Wednesday will decide next steps to resolve a monthslong impasse over wages, AI and technologies that could fundamentally alter the future of carmaking.

 

That Atlas lacks a firm deployment date in South Korea means little to Byun Jun-hwan, one of the lead labor negotiators.

 

"We have to prepare to ensure there are safeguards in place," said Byun, the union's secretary-general.

 

Blue-collar workers globally have reckoned with growing levels of automation, from mechanized arms welding sheet metal to mixing paint. Two-legged robots, with heads, arms and humanlike mobility, remain a rare sight at auto factories. But adoption is accelerating.

 

Tesla expects production for its Optimus humanoid robots, which could one day help build its electric vehicles, to start by year's end. German auto-parts maker Schaeffler is using four-fingered robots in South Carolina. China's Xiaomi earlier this year started a trial run of humanoid robots in its EV plants.

 

BMW, which has called humanoid robots the future of auto production, began testing out the "Aeon" robot in Germany for the first time last month. Mitsubishi Motors announced plans last week to pursue mass production of humanoid robots by early next year, aiming to deploy them for engine assembly at its factories. And General Motors recently added dozens of "cobots," collaborative robots that are designed to assist humans with ergonomically challenging tasks, to its Factory Zero in Detroit, while simultaneously laying off roughly 1,000 workers.

 

The head of the United Auto Workers Union, which represents roughly 400,000 auto workers in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, recently called humanoid robots, AI and mass automation "one of the most profound technological revolutions in our lifetimes."

 

"The human race has to master technology, not let it pass for us," said UAW President Shawn Fain at a union convention last month.

 

South Korea was a likely candidate for a showdown over humanoid robots.

 

It boasts the highest per capita rate of industrial robot adoption in the world -- more than six times the global average, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The country's president, Lee Jae Myung, has supported the pivot to humanoid robots, declaring it "impossible to avoid the giant chariot that is rolling on." That has catalyzed Hyundai's labor union, which includes roughly 40,000 workers.

 

How Hyundai's negotiations shake out will be closely watched by global manufacturers and their workforces, offering a glimpse as to whether and how much labor can push back against technologies like humanoid robots, said Carl Benedikt Frey, of the University of Oxford, who researches AI's effect on work.

 

"Hyundai is where that question will be tested first," he said.

 

The original version of Atlas, reliant on heavy hydraulics and tethered to a cable, was unveiled by Boston Dynamics more than a decade ago as part of a U.S. military robotics competition for search-and-rescue operations. Then, in 2021, Hyundai purchased an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics. Atlas was redesigned for industrial purposes.

 

The newest version of Atlas didn't emerge in public until January at a tech trade show in Las Vegas.

 

The reveal helped push the stock up that month by 85%. But the emergence of Atlas stunned many Hyundai workers and union officials in South Korea.

 

"I was really shocked," said Kwon Taek-hun, 37, who previously worked in sheet manufacturing before joining the union's leadership team. "Many of us thought we'd now arrived at the era of making cars with robots, not human hands."

 

Formal negotiations between Hyundai and the union kicked off in May. Workers held a mass rally then, shouting slogans such as, "Demands for job security against future industrial shifts!"

 

Hyundai, the world's No. 3 automaker by sales with sister firm Kia, said it is committed to constructive engagement with the union to reach an agreement that supports the long-term interests of both employees and the company.

 

The Korean automaker hasn't given a timeline for deployment in its home country. But it has said it plans to deploy Atlas by 2028 at its nonunionized "Metaplant" factory complex in Georgia.

 

A single Atlas costs an $130,000 per unit, according to a research institute owned by the South Korean government. The robot's cost savings pay for itself within about two years.

 

In response, Hyundai's union has made demands seeking to enshrine job protections in the era of robots and AI.

 

For the first time, they requested a shift from hourly pay to a fixed salary for production workers to guard against a potential reduction in work hours brought on by automation.

 

Workers want to lift the retirement age by five years to 65, on top of other job-security guarantees related to AI adoption.

 

They have asked for much bigger bonuses, tied to an AI boom that has brought greater riches to Hyundai and South Korea.

 

After talks broke down last week, Hyundai's workers decided to go on a partial strike. The work stoppages began Monday.

 

They are refraining from four hours of work a day, a pullback that could disrupt production of roughly 5,000 vehicles and cut Hyundai's sales by over 200 billion won, or about $134 million, according to industry estimates.

 

If Hyundai management doesn't agree to labor's demands by Thursday, the union has said it would consider prolonging the partial strike or taking stronger actions.

 

Hyundai has doubled down on Atlas. In June, it purchased the rest of Boston Dynamics' stake that it previously didn't own from SoftBank.

 

Automakers and robotics-industry officials argue that worker fears about job displacement through robots and AI are overblown. It isn't yet clear whether humanoid robots can be successfully mass-produced without compromising quality and durability.

 

Susanne Bieller, general secretary of the International Federation of Robotics, said humanoids with flashy skills that have impressed the public are often prototypes trained for a highly tailored demo. She expects Hyundai's deployment of Atlas to serve as an early test of whether humanoids can work as intended in real-life factories.

 

Outside South Korea, the United Auto Workers union has secured protections against automation, and leadership has grown increasingly vocal about humanoid robots.

 

 In France, automaker Renault has agreed with labor to mandate the reskilling of workers affected by automation.” [1]

 

1. Korean Auto Workers Strike Over Robot. Sohn, Jiyoung.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 16 July 2026: B1.