Korea’s workforce is so polarized that unionized workers at big conglomerates are often called “labor aristocrats” as they enjoy privileges their counterparts at the bottom of the labor market -- workers at small firms, part-timers or short-term contract workers -- could never dream of.

Fat paychecks -- usually much fatter than that of their foreign counterparts -- and solid job security are some of the many benefits unionized workers enjoy. Some unions even have an agreement with management under which descendants of union members are given priority in hiring new employees.

The union of Hyundai Motor is obviously one such aristocrat union. It has often faced public criticism for its greedy pursuit of self-interests. Even with that in mind, its latest demand leaves one speechless.

The union is demanding that some of its members -- those in white-collar jobs -- should be allowed to refuse promotion to the rank of section chief. This is because as per law, management staff of the section-chief level or higher have to renounce their union memberships.

Promotion is something most worker aspire to and it is quite natural for workers who take up managerial posts to give up union membership.

The Hyundai Motor union’s ludicrous demand shows that its members are given privileges that are more valuable than those that come with a promotion. Hyundai Motor workers have already far more generous compensation than their counterparts at rival companies such as Toyota, however, their productivity is far lower than those who work at Hyundai plants in the U.S. or China.

The Hyundai Motor union is not the only big union obsessed with the short-term interests of its members. Unions of major shipbuilders struggling with the global slump are making excessive demands in total disregard of the crisis faced by their own companies.

Bracing for a harsh restructuring wave, Hyundai Heavy Industries has cut 25 percent of its executive positions and plans to lay off 3,000 workers to tide over the crisis. Yet, its union is demanding a 6.3-percent pay raise. 

The union of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Maritime Engineering opposes the company’s self-rescue measures, including a plan to reduce its workforce by 3,000 over three years. It insists that only shareholders and executives -- not its workers -- are to blame for its huge losses. 

It is more pitiful than outrageous to see unionists of conglomerates -- who have reaped the sweet fruit of firms’ past glorious days -- bent on preserving their own self-interests at the risk of putting their own companies into deeper trouble.