AP
Hyundai Union Votes to Accept Wage Deal
Friday July 28, 1:09 pm ET
By Kelly Olsen, AP Business Writer
South Korea's Hyundai Motor Labor Union Votes to Accept Wage Agreement
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Hyundai Motor Co. workers voted to accept a wage package negotiated earlier this week by management and union leaders, the company said Saturday, officially ending a month of unrest at South Korea's largest automaker.
A total of 54.7 percent of the 41,109 union members who participated in voting Friday cast ballots in favor of accepting the deal, said company spokesman William Park. Hyundai's union has 43,497 members, he said.
The agreement, reached Wednesday, is for a 5.1 percent increase in basic monthly pay, a bonus payment of 1 million won ($1,050) and an extra month's salary. The union had demanded a basic pay increase of 9.1 percent.
The walkout was the second costliest ever at the company, where the union has gone on strike every year but one since being formed in 1987.
In the latest strike, which began June 26, members stopped work for parts of each shift. That resulted in lost production of 93,882 vehicles amounting to 1.3 trillion won ($1.4 billion), according to Hyundai, and forced the company to suspend exports.
Only a 2003 strike, which cost 1.31 trillion won, was worse in terms of monetary loss, according to figures provided by the company.
Employees returned to regular working hours Thursday. The company resumed exports on Monday after they were suspended beginning Thursday of last week, Park said.
Hyundai said the stoppage never caused any supply disruptions to dealers overseas, where it had about three months' worth of inventory.
Operations are expected to be fully normalized at the end of the company's annual summer vacation, in which all factories are closed for the first week of August.
Hyundai has been buffeted by turmoil much of this year following the April arrest and jailing of Chairman Chung Mong-koo on embezzlement and breach of trust charges related to a slush fund scandal.
Chung, 68, was released from detention late last month on bail and returned to work after spending time in a hospital. His absence was considered a blow to company decision-making. He is currently on trial.
Hyundai's labor troubles are not over, however. The union at the company's affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., went back on a partial strike Thursday following a similar three-day walkout last week.
Kia's union, which is demanding a salary increase of 7.1 percent, also plans to strike for three days from Aug. 7 after the summer vacation, according to spokesmen for the union and company. Kia is the country's second-largest automaker.
Separately, union members at GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., South Korea's third-largest vehicle manufacturer and a unit of General Motors Corp., late Thursday rejected a tentative agreement over a pay raise, the union and company said Friday.
GM Daewoo and union representatives last week agreed on a 3.98 percent increase in basic pay, but, like the Hyundai accord, the offer was subject to approval by rank-and-file members.
On Thursday, 47 percent of the 9,158 members who voted backed the tentative pact, falling short of the required 50 percent approval.
biz.yahoo.com/ap/060728/skorea_hyundai_strike.html