Hyundai Motor’s South Korean union staged its first full-scale strike in a decade on August 21, with approximately 39,000 union members participating as production lines at the Ulsan, Jeonju and Asan plants were completely halted. The action, the first in global automotive history triggered by robots entering the factory, followed stalled wage talks after 16 rounds of negotiations. Workers from Hyundai Motor, affiliate Kia and suppliers rallied outside Hyundai Motor Group headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Seoul. Demands include performance-based pay equal to 30% of net profit, raising the mandatory retirement age to 65, bonuses raised to 800% of monthly base salary from 750%, job protections against AI and automation, and union approval for Atlas humanoid robot deployment. The union plans to continue striking for 4 hours daily on August 24-25. The one-day strike disrupted an estimated 55,200 vehicles with cumulative sales losses exceeding 2.3 trillion won (approximately $1.7 billion). Hyundai Motor fully owns Boston Dynamics after acquiring the remaining stake and plans to deploy its Atlas humanoid robot starting in 2028 at the Metaplant America in the U.S. and Kia’s Georgia plant for material logistics, expanding to assembly in 2030. Although no timeline for South Korean plants has been announced, the union states that no humanoid robot employing new technology may enter the production floor until a labor-management agreement is reached. The strike carries spillover effects on suppliers and aligns with President Lee Jae-myung’s pro-labor policies. Oxford University scholar Carl Benedikt Frey said the strike’s significance lies in turning the abstract proposition of robots replacing humans into a concrete bargaining chip.