Hyundai Motor workers vote on 2nd tentative pay deal

SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. went to the polls on Thursday to vote on a second tentative pay agreement after months-long wage disputes that cost South Korea's largest automaker over US$600 million.

Since early July, about 45,000 workers at Hyundai's local plants have staged
sporadic 10-day walk offs, demanding more pay, better working conditions and a
greater say in management.
Thursday's vote 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.
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.
The vote will end as of 3:00 p.m. Thursday, and the outcome will be announced as
late as around 3:00 a.m. on Friday, according to Jang Kyu-ho, a spokesman for
Hyundai union.
"I expect union members to make a wise decision," said Yoon Hae-mo, leader of the
Hyundai union.
Hyundai workers are likely to vote to accept the second deal because the union
hasn't turned down a second wage deal since it was formed in 1987, said Suh
Sung-moon, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Co.
"The union leaders will make major efforts to pass the deal because it would be
significantly burdensome for them if the deal was rejected," Suh said.
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.