KB News Desk
Hyundai Motor’s labor union has approved a tentative agreement that includes higher base pay, bonuses and new hiring commitments, concluding months of contentious wage negotiations and strikes.
The carmaker said 19,183 workers, or 61.55 percent of the 31,166 union members who cast ballots in a vote held Monday, voted in favor of this year’s wage agreement between the labor union and the company.
Under the agreement reached last week, Hyundai Motor will raise monthly base pay by 100,000 won ($73) and provide a performance bonus equivalent to 400 percent of monthly salary plus an additional 12.7 million won.
Workers will also receive 15 Hyundai Motor shares and 500,000 won in welfare points. The agreement also includes plans to hire 500 new production workers from the second half of next year through 2028.
The union and management arrived at a tentative agreement on August 25, 111 days after talks began on May 6. With union members ratifying the deal on Monday, this year’s wage negotiations have officially concluded.
The deal came after months of negotiations marked by repeated breakdowns and several strikes that led to production disruptions. The union staged its first full eight-hour strike in a decade, halting 120 hours of production across two shifts this year.
The walkouts have disrupted production of an estimated 55,200 vehicles, resulting in sales losses exceeding 2.3 trillion won, according to industry estimates.
The conclusion of the negotiations removes a major source of uncertainty for South Korea’s largest automaker as it seeks to boost production and sales in the second half of the year.
“Based on the ratification of this tentative agreement, labor and management will put all effort into production in the second half of the year and repay customer support by making vehicles of the highest global quality,” Hyundai Motor said in a statement.
