Hyundai union ratifies wage deal after strikes in South Korea

Hyundai Motor workers in South Korea have ratified a provisional wage agreement after months of negotiations and a series of strikes that disrupted vehicle production.

The metalworkers’ union at Hyundai Motor said 61.55% of participating members backed the deal reached provisionally the previous week. Of the 39,638 eligible voters, 31,166 took part in the ballot, whose count ended early Tuesday.

The vote concludes wage talks that began in May and led to repeated walkouts from July. The action included a full-day strike on Aug. 21, the first such stoppage at Hyundai in a decade.

Under the agreement, workers will receive a monthly base-pay increase of 100,000 won, or about $72. The package also includes performance bonuses worth 400% of salary, an additional payment of 12.7 million won, or roughly $9,190, 15 Hyundai Motor shares per worker and other benefits.

The retirement age will remain 60 for now. The company and union agreed to apply any extension resulting from a future legal reform, although the union had sought to raise the age to 65. They also agreed to share information on new businesses and technologies and cooperate on industrial transformation as artificial intelligence and robotics raise employment concerns.

Workers accumulated about 60 hours of strikes. Industry sources cited by Yonhap estimated that the stoppages affected production of around 55,200 vehicles and resulted in at least 2.3 trillion won, or about $1.664 billion, in unrealized sales.