GM Korea, the third-largest carmaker in Korea, said it agreed Tuesday to give out a record bonus of 7 million won ($6,616) in additon to a 4.7 percent salary raise for its workers.
“Management and the union were able to reach a compromise on Monday. But this is a tentative agreement which will be finalized tomorrow,” Kim Sung-soo, a spokesperson at the company said.
“We need the majority (of the union) vote to adopt the plan.”
Management and the union have held a number of negotiations since May 25 to try to iron out differences in pay hikes.
The labor union staged a partial strike last week for the first time in three years to press management. The company lost 9,700 vehicles from the strike. The tentative deal also includes 2.5 million won of incentives and 500,000 won of performance rewards for those who met quality targets set for this year.
Overall, the raise was bigger than what management offered after the union’s 2008 strike.
The GM operation, or GM Daewoo back then, had offered 200 percent of worker’s monthly wage as a bonus on top of 2.3 million won of additional incentives.
The company, which has about 17,000 employees, officially changed its name to GM Korea from GM Daewoo after keeping it for 28 years.
By Cynthia J. Kim (
cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)
