Unionized workers at South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. were to stage a partial strike on Tuesday to demand higher wages, officials said, in the latest work stoppage that could cut vehicle output.
Some workers plan to down tools between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. while others plan to walk off the job between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., according to company and union officials.
Hyundai Motor's 46,000-strong labor union will also walk out for four hours on Wednesday, Kwon Oh-il, a spokesman for the Hyundai union, said by phone from Ulsan, home to Hyundai's main production facility located some 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
Still, Kwon said his union plans to hold working-level talks with the management during the two-day partial strike before resuming full-scale negotiations with the management on Thursday.
It remains unclear whether the two sides will make an early breakthrough.
The union is demanding, among other things, a hike of 130,498 won (US$117) in basic salaries and a one-year extension of the retirement age to 61, as well as a performance-based bonus equal to 30 percent of the company's net profit last year that reached 9 trillion won.
It also calls for 10 million won each for workers' children who choose to seek employment instead of going to college.
Hyundai Motor President Yoon Gap-han has said some of the union's demands are excessive and the company cannot accept them, though he did not elaborate.
The partial strike comes a day after the state-run National Labor Relations Commission halted its mandatory mediation.
Labor disputes at Hyundai Motor have been an almost annual event in the past two decades. Its workers have downed tools every year since 1986 except for in 1994, 2009, 2010 and 2011. A strike last year cost the carmaker some 1.7 trillion won in lost production.
The unionized workers halted weekend production between March 9 and May 18 due to a dispute over weekend wages, costing the carmaker 1.7 trillion won in lost production.
Shares of Hyundai Motor were trading at 230,000 won on the Seoul bourse as of 9:50 a.m., down 1.92 percent from the previous session's close. (Yonhap News)
