![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ams.001.photo.202608211455413959287769_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Hyundai")
Members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, including unions from Hyundai Motor and its suppliers, chant slogans during a “Joint Auto Industry Strike Rally” in front of Hyundai Motor’s headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 21st. Reporter Cho Tae-hyung<\/p>\n
Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and its labor union have reached a tentative wage agreement centered on a 100,000-won monthly increase in base pay and performance bonuses of more than 400%, 111 days after negotiations began on May 6. The two sides agreed to focus on second-half production and new vehicle launches to recover from more than 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in lost sales caused by their first full-scale strike in a decade.<\/p>\n
According to industry sources on the 25th, Hyundai Motor and the union produced the tentative agreement in their 17th round of talks, which continued from the previous day at the Ulsan plant. The union plans to finalize the deal through a member vote on the 31st.<\/p>\n
The tentative agreement includes a 100,000-won increase in base pay (including step-based raises), performance bonuses of 400% plus 12.7 million won, 15 company shares, 500,000 won in welfare points, and a 200,000-won increase in summer vacation allowances. Separately, the company agreed to hire 500 technical (production) workers \u2014 200 in the second half of next year and 300 in 2028.<\/p>\n
On the extension of the retirement age, the central issue in this year’s talks, the two sides agreed to implement it immediately upon a change in the law, without expanding the wage peak system. A proposal to raise bonus pay will be revisited in next year’s collective bargaining. On the reinstatement of union members dismissed for illegal acts, the company agreed to withdraw all 10 damage claims and provisional seizures it had filed over the union’s illegal activities.<\/p>\n
Since their first meeting on May 6, Hyundai Motor and the union had failed to narrow their differences over the bonus increase and the retirement age extension, and the union staged strikes for a second consecutive year. After beginning a partial strike on the 13th of last month, the union carried out a full-scale strike on the 21st of this month that halted production for an entire day for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n
Cumulative strike hours this year reached 60, and production line stoppages totaled 120 hours based on two day-and-night shifts. Over this period, the cumulative production shortfall is estimated at 55,200 vehicles and the sales loss at 2.3 trillion won ($1.7 billion).<\/p>\n
The two sides agreed to focus on new vehicle launches and other efforts to make up for the losses caused by the strike. “We have agreed to devote all our efforts to our core roles, including second-half production and new vehicle launches, to swiftly overcome the aftermath of the strike, resolve internal and external uncertainties, and create an opportunity for a greater leap forward,” the company and the union said.<\/p>\n
In particular, the two sides laid the groundwork for strengthening future mobility competitiveness in this year’s talks and codified principles for adopting new technology. Both sides shared the view that introducing future technologies such as physical AI and robotics is indispensable for the company’s survival. Accordingly, they agreed to transparently share progress on new businesses and technologies going forward, and to jointly respond to the transition toward future industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, including unions from Hyundai Motor and its suppliers, chant slogans during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1236,295,702,800,3532,2716,2774,16720],"class_list":["post-131803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hyundai-motor","tag-base-pay-increase","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-motor","tag-labor-union","tag-performance-bonus","tag-retirement-age-extension","tag-ulsan-plant","tag-wage-agreement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}