By Heekyong Yang
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!SEOUL (Reuters) – Unionized workers at Kia Corp in South Korea will go on a partial strike for six working days from Oct. 12 after three months of negotiations with the company over wage increases and the extension of the retirement age, the company said. The union said. The union said it has decided to suspend work for a part of each day until October 20, which would be the first industrial action at Kia in three years.
Last month, the union at South Korea’s No. 2 automaker, with more than 26,600 members, said 92.3% of its members approved strike action until management accepts demands.
The labor action at Kia came after the union at sister Hyundai Motor Co. avoided a strike because the union and management sealed an agreement last month to raise annual wages by about 12%.
The Kia union is demanding an increase in the minimum basic monthly salary to 184,900 won ($138.12), performance pay equal to 30% of Kia’s 2022 net profit, as well as raising the retirement age from 60 to 64 and 4- Demanding a one-day work week. ,
The union said it will work regular hours while they negotiate with management. Since July till now, 14 rounds of talks have taken place between the union and the management.
Kia declined to comment on the strike.
Analysts said that since the deals with Hyundai Motor and partner Hyundai Mobis were concluded without any industrial action, Kia’s unions are likely to avoid any major industrial action.
Lee Jae-il said, “At the moment, Kia is the only company that plans to go on an actual strike… This is unlikely to give Kia much momentum to carry out a rapid strike or go it alone for too long Is.” Analyst at Eugene Investments & Securities.
Kia Corp shares were trading up 0.7% by 0217 GMT, versus a 2.1% rise in the benchmark KOSPI.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Edmund Claman and Miral Fahmy)
Source: www.bing.com
