After a succession of partial strikes, Hyundai Motor and the main union of its workers in South Korea agreed to a wage increase and to pay a bonus.
© Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images
25/08/2026
by
Lusa
A Hyundai Motor and their main union in South Korea already have a wage agreementfollowing the succession of partial strikes of workers.
“We agreed to increase the monthly basic wage by 100,000 won [62 euros] and pay a bonus equivalent to four months' salary“, said the union in a statement on monday night.
The union required a monthly increase of 149,600 won (96 euros) and a bonus equivalent to 30 percent of the net profit of 2025. The company initially offered 89 thousand won (58 euros) more per month, additional incentives and 15 shares per employee.
The union added that the two parties further agreed that the future increase in retirement age will be accompanied by the removal of the salary ceiling at the end of career.
The parliament of South Korea, a country in full ageing population, is considering a proposal to raise the legal retirement age from the present 60 years to 65 years.
On Friday, about 40,000 employees – according to the union – hyundai Motor paralyzed activities for a whole day, the first strike of this kind in ten years, after the failure of negotiations on wages and pensions.
This week's strikes avoided
New four-hour stoppages were scheduled for this early week (Monday and Tuesday), but were postponed after the resumption of wage negotiations, which resulted in an agreement.
The agreement reached with the administration of Hyundai Motor it has yet to be approved by vote of union members on 31 august.
“ We commend the commitment of our collaborators and we appreciate the efforts of our negotiating teams, which led to this agreement in principle,” said a union spokesman to the France-Presse news agency.
The two parties also agreed to share in a transparent way progress in new businesses and technologies and to respond jointly to industrial transformation, according to the local news agency Yonhap.
The union required job guarantees given the future introduction of robots and artificial intelligence in factories, an issue related to the possible use of humanoid Atlas, developed by Boston Dynamics, a North American branch of Hyundai, according to a report by the metallurgical federation KMWU.
Millionaire Impact
According to calculations by the South Korean news agency Newsis, the labor conflict, which had been dragging on for months and was marked by several downfalls, cost the company the equivalent of 2.3 billion won (EUR 1.37 billion).