Hyundai employees approve 2nd wage deal

nionized workers at Hyundai Motor have approved the second tentative wage deal for 2017, concluding the long-drawn-out negotiations, the carmaker’s union said Tuesday.

In a vote held on Monday at Hyundai’s main plant in Ulsan, 414 kilometers (257 miles) southeast of Seoul, the 49,667-member union chose to accept the revised wage package offered by the company, a union statement said.

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

In December, the carmaker and its union reached their first tentative wage deal that would raise workers’ standard monthly wages by 58,000 won and provide bonuses worth 300 percent of basic pay plus 3 million won in extra compensation.

But the union members later voted down the deal. Workers at South Korea’s largest carmaker began partial strikes last Thursday to press for higher salaries and bonuses.

In 2017, industrial action 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.

In 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 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 markets such as China, India and Russia.

On Monday, Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor’s sister company, said its union agreed to a tentative deal on a similar wage package, with the pact to be put to a vote this week for final approval.

YONHAP