[News Focus] No-strike, wage deal clears hurdle for Hyundai Motor in H2
Unionized workers and the management at Hyundai Motor reached an agreement early Tuesday on this year’s wages, after the union voted not to stage sit-in protests amid intensifying uncertainties over the business environment and the local auto industry.
“The union has voted to approve the company’s revised proposals as uncertainties in business environments grow further over an escalating US-China trade war, Japan’s export curb and a slowdown in the auto industry,” the union said in a statement.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon expressed gratitude toward both sides, saying they were making a “mature” decision.
“It suggests that we can have a developed labor-management culture,” Lee said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.
“The government will help labor and management overcome difficulties through cooperation,” he said.
By deciding not to stage protests this year, the 50,000-member Hyundai Motor union said it hoped to prevent itself from becoming isolated from the community and counter critical views among people who believe it makes excessive demands. Unionized workers, particularly in the manufacturing sector, have been blamed for threatening management ahead of each annual wage deal despite their relatively high income.
This year, the management’s proposal included raising the basic monthly salary 1.7 percent or 40,000 won, one and a half months of wages and 3 million won in addition for performance-based pay. The proposal also added bonus in cash between 2.2 million and 6.2 million won per person.
The union had demanded the company to pay 30 percent of its net income as a bonus package and add 123,526 won in basic monthly pay. The carmaker posted a net income of 1.87 trillion won for 2018 financial year that ended in March.
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