Hyundai Motor workers accept pay deal

SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. voted for a pay agreement on early Friday, ending months-long wage disputes that cost South Korea's largest automaker over US$600 million.

About 54 percent of the union's members voted for the second wage deal, both the
company and the union said in statements.
Friday's outcome followed a rejection by some 61 percent of union members on
Sept. 5 against the first deal, which included pledges by Hyundai to raise the
monthly basic salary by 5.61 percent, a pay bonus equivalent to three months'
salary and a lump-sump payment of three million won (US$2,597).
The second deal adds a payment of one million won in cash for each worker.
Along with the deal, Hyundai and its union agreed to abolish the all-night shift
system next year, which the company says will force the automaker to slash its
annual output by 250,000 vehicles.
Since early July, about 45,000 workers at Hyundai had sporadically walked out to
press their demands.
Strikes at Hyundai are an annual ritual. The union has gone on strike every year
but one since it was founded in 1987.
Analysts cite bad labor relations and poor corporate governance as two major
obstacles for Hyundai Motor, which aims to become one of the world's top five
carmakers by 2010.
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