Kia Motors Labor and Management Reach 2nd Tentative Agreement on 2019 Wage and Collective Bargaining... Approval Vote on 17th

Additional Agreement Including 1 Billion KRW Contribution to Employee Welfare Fund and Overtime-Related TFT Operation

Hyundai Kia Motors Headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Seoul (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The labor and management of Kia Motors have reached a second tentative agreement on the 2019 wage negotiations. A vote by union members to decide the final approval of this tentative agreement is scheduled to take place on the 17th.

Kia Motors announced that during the 19th main negotiation session held on the 14th at the Sohari Plant in Gyeonggi Province, they prepared the second tentative agreement for last year's wage negotiations.

The key additional agreements in this tentative agreement include ▲a contribution of 1 billion KRW to the in-house welfare fund ▲adjustment of holidays (working on March 2nd changed to a holiday on May 4th, creating a 6-day consecutive holiday) ▲agreement to operate a joint labor-management TFT (Task Force Team) regarding overtime work.

Previously, on December 10th, the labor and management reached a first tentative agreement that included ▲a basic wage increase of 40,000 KRW (including seniority increments) ▲performance bonuses and incentive payments at 150% + 3 million KRW ▲issuance of 200,000 KRW worth of traditional market gift certificates ▲a contribution of 3 billion KRW to the social contribution fund. At that time, the parties succeeded in reaching a tentative agreement without a strike, but it was rejected as it did not receive majority approval in the union members' vote.

Following this, the Kia Motors union demanded improvements in wage increases and carried out strikes. Earlier this year, they also decided on partial strikes from the 13th to the 17th. However, negotiations resumed on the second day of the partial strike, the 14th, leading to a suspension of the strike.

A Kia Motors official stated, "We have formed a consensus between labor and management to overcome the uncertain business environment and reached the second tentative agreement. We will do our best to conclude the prolonged negotiations and ensure timely production and stable quality of new vehicles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.