Aug 25 (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor’s South Korean union reached a tentative agreement with management on a 100,000 won ($72.31) monthly base salary increase, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.
The deal comes after the union staged its first full strike in a decade on Friday after wage talks stalled, as it sought a higher retirement age and job protections against artificial intelligence and automation.
According to the Yonhap report, the tentative agreement includes a base salary increase plus a performance bonus and welfare points.
From next year until 2028, 500 new technical workers will be hired, the report added.
Hyundai Motor did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.
Production at Hyundai’s largest automobile factory in Ulsan city would have been suspended if the two sides had not reached a deal. The Ulsan plant has an annual capacity to produce about 1.5 million vehicles, accounting for roughly a quarter of Hyundai’s total output.
The union had demanded the company set aside 30% of net income for bonuses and guarantee job security, raising concerns over growing adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence on assembly lines.
The world’s third-largest automaker, which is also developing humanoid robots, appears to be planning to replace human workers with new technologies, a union leader said.
“We already see lots of robots deployed in the factories,” Kim Jin-wook, head of external relations for Hyundai’s union, told Reuters. “We are demanding management increase new hires, as the company is trying to reduce headcounts.”
($1 = 1,382.8900 won)
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru and Heekyong Yang and Heejin Kim; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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