Hyundai Motor has reached a tentative agreement with its labour union on wages, which if finalised will be the first time in eight years that the company will have averted costly strike action.
A labour union spokesperson reportedly confirmed in a phone call with the local Yonyap news agency that the union had decided to accept the company's revised proposals in view of rising uncertainty in the business environment due to the escalating US-China trade war and Japan's restrictions on exports of key materials to South Korea.
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The union is recommending that its 50,293 Hyundai members vote in favour of the deal in a ballot to be held on 2nd September.
Hyundai workers have held strikes in each of the last seven years before signing a new wage deal for the year. According to local reports, union members have carried out industrial action almost every year since the union was first established in 1987 – except in 2007 and between 2009 and 2011.
Hyundai Motor has offered its workers a basic pay increase of 1.7%, 1.5 months of wages and KRW3m (US$2,470) in performance-related pay and a cash bonus of between KRW2.2m and KRW6.2m, depending on length of service.
In a separate report, GM Korea's 10,000 union members have so far failed to reach an agreement over this year's wages and will intensify industrial action to force through an acceptable wage deal. They plan to hold an eight-hour partial strike on Friday, to be followed by a full walkout between 9th and 10th of September and a further four-hour strike in 11th September.
