Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Heavy Industries are continuing their strike for a third consecutive day on Thursday. 

According to the labor unions of the two companies, around 10-thousand union members participated in their joint rally on Wednesday at their factories in Ulsan, while police estimated the number at around six-thousand-500.

It marks the first simultaneous walkout by two Hyundai affiliates in 23 years. 

Workers at Hyundai Motor are demanding a rise in pay after talks with management over the issue fell through. Both sides will meet later Thursday to try and iron out a deal. 

Meanwhile, Hyundai Heavy union members are calling for the firm's restructuring measures, which include a cut in workforce, to be scrapped.

Two other local shipbuilders, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, launched their own strikes on Wednesday. 

The labor unions of five other shipbuilders, including Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering and STX Offshore and Shipbuilding Company, decided not to launch strikes, but they raised their voices against the government’s industry-wide restructuring plan.

Meanwhile, the nation’s major umbrella union Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) held a rally in 13 places across the country, including Seoul, on Wednesday, criticizing the government’s labor policies and calling for protective measures for non-regular workers.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor estimated that around 46-thousand workers participated in strikes at 31 workplaces across the country on Wednesday, and said that it will sternly deal with illegal strikes.