Hyundai Workers Approve 2nd Tentative Wage Deal

Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. have approved the second tentative wage deal for 2017, concluding the long-drawn-out negotiations, the union said Tuesday. (Image: Yonhap)

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. have approved the second tentative wage deal for 2017, concluding the long-drawn-out negotiations, the union said Tuesday.

In a vote held on Monday at a Hyundai’s main plant in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the 49,667-member union chose to accept the revised wage package offered by the company, the union said in a statement.

In the final offerings, Hyundai workers will receive an increase of 58,000 won (US$53) and bonuses worth 300 percent of basic pay plus 3.2 million won in extra compenstation, according to the company.

In 2017, industrial actions by the union cost the company a total of 1.31 trillion won, or 62,600 vehicles, in production losses.

Labor strikes have plagued the carmaker for decades. Its workers have walked out every year since 1986 except for 1994, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

For the whole of 2017, Hyundai sold a total of 4.50 million vehicles, down 6.5 percent from 4.82 million units a year earlier due to slowing sales in its major markets such as China and the United States.

Hyundai Motor currently operates seven plants in Korea, including five in the port city of Ulsan. It also has production facilities in the United States, Europe and emerging countries such as China, India and Russia.

(Yonhap)