사진 확대
Hyundai Motor Company and its labor union reached a tentative agreement on this year’s wage negotiations on the 25th, centering on a bonus worth more than 400% of base pay and a 100,000 won monthly increase in base salary.
The tentative deal, reached after 111 days of negotiations, will be finalized after a union vote on the 31st. Hyundai Motor Company and the union held their 17th main bargaining session at the Ulsan Plant starting at 2 p.m. on the 24th and continued marathon talks overnight until the early hours of the 25th.
The two sides held 17 rounds of main negotiations over about 110 days, starting with their first meeting on May 6. During the talks, the union staged a cumulative 60 hours of strikes and carried out an eight-hour full strike on the 21st, the first in 10 years since 2016.
On wages, the company proposed a 100,000 won increase in base pay through its fifth revised offer, and the union accepted it. That was 2,000 won higher than the fourth proposal. The sides also agreed on a bonus equal to 400% of base pay and a one-time payment of 12.7 million won. In addition, workers will receive 15 Hyundai Motor Company shares and 500,000 won in welfare points. Compared with the fourth proposal, the one-time payment was raised by 500,000 won from 12.2 million won. The plan to provide 200,000 won in digital Onnuri gift certificates was changed to a cash payment, and an additional 500,000 won in welfare points was added. They also agreed to hire more workers. The two sides decided to recruit 500 new technical employees, with 200 hired in the second half of 2027 and 300 in 2028. The issue of raising bonuses, on which the two sides had differed, will be discussed again in the 2027 collective bargaining round. Summer vacation pay will rise by 200,000 won from 800,000 won to 1 million won and will take effect in 2027.
The union’s demands for extending the retirement age and reinstating dismissed workers, which were the direct causes of the prolonged negotiations, were not accepted. Even after the union made a last-ditch effort by pushing ahead with an eight-hour full strike for the first time in 10 years, its key demands were not reflected in the agreement.
Instead of immediate implementation, the sides agreed to discuss extending the retirement age on the premise of revising related laws, and if the law is amended, they will not further expand the current wage peak system. The issue of reinstating dismissed workers also ended with no clear conclusion, with the two sides agreeing to continue forward-looking discussions next year.
Hyundai Motor Company plans to speed up the normalization of production after the tentative agreement. Major new models, including the fully redesigned Hyundai Tucson and Genesis’ first hybrid model, are scheduled for release in the second half of the year, making recovery from strike-related production disruptions an immediate priority.
Whether the tentative agreement is finalized will be decided by a union vote. The Hyundai Motor union plans to hold a general meeting of members on the 31st and conduct a yes-or-no vote on the tentative deal.
As Hyundai Motor Company reached a tentative agreement, attention is now turning to Kia Corporation’s labor talks. Kia Corporation and its union continued negotiations at 2 p.m. that day. If Kia Corporation also wraps up its wage and collective bargaining agreement after Hyundai Motor Company, production uncertainty in the domestic auto industry in the second half of the year is expected to ease further.
[Choo Dong-hoon]
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.