Whether to import the popular Impala sedan or manufacture it at home is becoming a seed of labor dispute between GM Korea‘s management and its union.

Last week, the Korean unit of U.S. General Motors decided to continue importing Chevrolet’s premium sedan Impala instead of producing them here.


But the automaker’s labor union said in its statement that the management’s decision is tantamount to breaking trust between labor and management, warning that the company “will have to pay a huge price for that.” The union did not specify what action it will take.

The carmaker’s union belongs to the militant Korean Metal Workers’ Union, one of the nation‘s largest labor umbrella groups.

The union contended that when GM Korea’s CEO Sergio Rocha was in office last year, he promised to consider producing Impala sedans at home if their sales exceeded 10,000 units. Impala sedans were reportedly sold more than 10,000 units in six months since its rollout in September last year.

The union plans to continue calling for local production of large vehicles -- if not Impala -- for fear that the plant in Incheon may lose its production capacity. The plant, equipped with facilities for sport utility vehicles and full-size sedans, currently remained idle after the company stopped producing its large sedan Alpheon in September and began importing Impala instead.

“We will continue to demand local production of large vehicles -- follow-up models of Alpheon -- from the management,” a union spokesman told The Korea Herald by phone.

In response, GM Korea appears to be taking a wait-and-see attitude.

“There is nothing we can do for now, except for making efforts to raise the factory operation rate together with the union,” a company official said.

If the union goes on strike against the company‘s decision, it may deal a fatal blow to the automaker already suffering from lackluster sales and increased labor cost. GM Korea posted a record net loss of 986.8 billion won ($855.7 million) last year, the worst performance since its launch in 2002.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)