April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor staged five straight days of partial strikes that started last week, a company official said on Jan. 10.

The workers in the morning shift walked away from their production lines from 9 a.m. for six hours, while those on the evening shift plan to put down their tools at 5:40 p.m. for another six hours, sources said.

The company and its union officials were to meet again at 2 p.m. at a Hyundai plant in Ulsan, an industrial city located about 410 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the union.

In December, the carmaker and its union reached a tentative wage deal that would raise workers‘ basic monthly wages by 58,000 won (US$54) and provide bonuses worth 300 percent of basic pay plus 3 million won in extra compensation.

But the union members later voted down the deal. The two sides have since held two rounds of negotiations.

Still, the management did not present a revised offer, prompting the union members to begin the latest round of partial strikes.

Hyundai workers have staged strikes 24 times in recent months that prevented Hyundai from producing 84,300 cars, costing the carmaker 1.78 trillion won in lost production, according to the company.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)