Hyundai Motor (005380) and its union reached a tentative wage agreement centered on a 100,000-won increase in base pay, closing a dispute that had run for 111 days since their first meeting on May 6.
According to industry sources on the 25th, the two sides drew up the tentative deal during their 16th round of main negotiations at the Ulsan plant, which continued from the previous day. Union members will vote on the agreement on the 31st.
The tentative deal includes a 100,000-won increase in base pay (including seniority-based raises), a bonus of 400% plus 12.7 million won, 15 shares of stock and 500,000 won in welfare points. Separately, the company agreed to hire a total of 500 new workers — 200 technical staff in the second half of next year and 300 in 2028.
On the extension of the retirement age, the central issue in this year's talks, the two sides agreed to introduce it immediately upon a change in the law, without expanding the wage peak system. A proposed increase in regular bonuses will be discussed again in next year's collective bargaining. The two sides also agreed to hold forward-looking talks on reinstating union members dismissed over illegal activity, while the company agreed to withdraw 10 damage claims and provisional seizures it had filed over the union's illegal activities.
Hyundai Motor and its union had been unable to narrow their differences over the bonus increase and the retirement-age extension, staging partial strikes since last month before halting all production on the 21st in the first full walkout in 10 years. The resulting production disruption is estimated at about 55,000 vehicles.
Building on the agreement, the two sides pledged to focus fully on second-half production and new-vehicle launches to quickly contain the fallout from the strike. On the same day, Hyundai Motor launched the '2027 Palisade,' the first among domestic automakers to feature a "high-roof" SUV-based model. The 'All-New Tucson,' a fully redesigned model coming six years after the last overhaul, is also set for release.
"The labor and management sides reached a difficult tentative agreement out of an urgent sense that further damage had to be prevented," a Hyundai Motor official said. "We will devote our full efforts to second-half production and new-vehicle output, and repay our customers' support with world-class mobility."
Meanwhile, Kia (000270) and its union, which had warned of partial strikes starting on the 26th, also resumed main negotiations the same day. Kia is the only one of South Korea's five automakers yet to reach a wage agreement this year.
