Kia says that after reaching a ‘tentative agreement’ with representatives of its labour union, employees at its three plants have returned to work and normal working has resumed. However, unionised workers still have to vote on the company’s offer next Tuesday.
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Kia’s latest offer includes a monthly salary increase of 95,000 won per employee and a special bonus of 150% of the monthly salary plus 800,000 won. The offer is a slight increase on the offer that was rejected by the union earlier this week.
Unionised workers at Kia declared a four-hour daily strike on June 24 in an effort to influence pay talks. Strike action was stepped up to eight hours a day on July 8.
Kia Motors said yesterday that sales and production losses caused by a month-long partial strike at its domestic car plants amounted to 33,400 vehicles and 429 billion won, respectively, as of July 16.
“Despite snowballing orders at home and abroad, a 12-hour-a-day partial strike dating back to June 24 has brought down Kia Motors’ facility utilisation ratio to the 20 percent level lately,” said the carmaker in a press statement.
The company added that its current backlog of orders for the Sorento sport utility vehicle totalled 25,000 units, or a waiting period of five months, while 17,000 units of Carens minivan and 6,000 units of Carnival minivan still remain backlogged.
In addition, a total of 12,800 cars are now parked at the automaker’s repairs service centres across the country.
1 USD = 1170.1 KRW
