Wage Negotiations to Start on June 13

Unionized Kia Motors workers are likely to demand 30 percent of the company’s 2018 operating profit as an incentive.

Kia Motors initiates this year’s wage negotiations on June 13. Unionized Kia Motors workers are likely to demand 30 percent of the company’s 2018 operating profit as an incentive for all employees as well as a 5.4 percent increase in base pay. The company posted an operating profit of 1,157.5 billion won last year.

The workers sent their demands to the management on June 3. Their additional demands include a 100 percent incentive plus 200,000 won for each salesperson, retirement age extension to 65, a new ordinary hourly wage including ordinary allowances, more employment, and the organization of a council related to basic labor-management agreements. The production of the Telluride SUV and the Seltos SUV in South Korea is not going to be discussed at the negotiations.

In the meantime, Hyundai Motor Co. started this year’s wage negotiations on May 30. The representatives of the management said that they need a lot of new investments due to environmental regulations and so on. Unionized Hyundai Motor workers said in response that the company is such a crybaby in spite of profitability improvement in the first quarter of this year, signaling an intense confrontation.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution