By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
Unionized workers at Kia Motors, the nation's second largest automaker, launched a partial strike, Friday, after failing to narrow their differences with management over wage demands.
The 28,000-member union walked off the job at 1:30 pm, launching an eight-hour strike.
Kia's management and union met on Wednesday and Thursday in order to resolve the wage dispute, but negotiations came to a halt when the company did not present a counter offer to the union's demand.
The union is demanding an 8.9 percent raise in basic salary and a special bonus that is equal to two months' salary.
In the statement, the union accused management of not having sincere negotiations.
The strike could cause serious financial damage to the company. Kia Motors is expected to see a production loss of 6,818 cars worth 99.6 billion won due to the partial strike and last month’s anti-free trade agreement (FTA) strike.
Meanwhile, unionized workers and management of Hyundai Motor are to launch collective bargaining over salaries and working conditions next Thursday, which are expected to be tough. With its political anti-FTA strike coinciding with industrial level negotiations, Hyundai Motor’s labor talks have been pushed behind its usual timeline. The union’s demands are bigger than last year _ it has decided to request a 128,805 won or 8.9 percent monthly raise, the extension of the retirement age from 58 to 60, and the payment of 30 percent of the 2007 corporate net income as bonuses to union members.
The wage raise demand this time was 3,281 won higher than last year’s 125,524 won increase, when the union and management agreed on a 5.1 percent increase. Last year, negotiations began in early May and an agreement was made at the end of July.
GM Daewoo’s labor union is to conduct poll on collective bargaining over wages next Tuesday.