Thursday, September 8, 2005

Labor and management at Hyundai Motor reach tentative agreement

Associated Press

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SEOUL, South Korea -- The labor and management at Hyundai Motor Co. reached a tentative agreement Thursday to end a two-week-old partial strike over higher wages and better working conditions, South Korea's largest automaker said.

The two sides have agreed on a wage hike of 6.9 percent, or 89,000 won ($86.77), and better working hours, labor and company officials said.

About 70 percent of Hyundai's 42,521-strong union voted for the partial strike that began Aug. 25.

While the agreement is not satisfactory, Chang Kyu-ho, a union spokesman, said that "We did the best we could" in reference to the negotiations it held with the management.

Unionized workers will return to regular schedule Friday, Chang said. Unionized workers are scheduled to cast their votes on Monday.

Hyundai, maker of the Sonata midsize sedan and the luxury Equus, has ambitions to become the world's sixth-largest carmaker by 2010. It has worldwide production capacity of 2.65 million vehicles a year, with more than 70 percent made in South Korea.

During the strike, losses for Hyundai Motor amounted to 42,707 vehicles worth 591 billion won ($576.1 million), said company spokesman William Park.