The agreement comes days after the union staged its first full strike in a decade, following stalled wage negotiations. Workers had also sought a higher retirement age and stronger job protections amid the growing use of artificial intelligence and automation in Hyundai’s factories, Reuters reported.
Hyundai Motor Company’s tentative deal includes the base salary increase, as well as a performance bonus and welfare points.
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The company will also hire 500 new technical workers annually from next year through 2028, the report said.
Hyundai Motor did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.
The agreement helped avert a potential shutdown at Hyundai’s largest plant in Ulsan, which has an annual production capacity of about 1.5 million vehicles, or roughly a quarter of the automaker’s total output.
The union had demanded that Hyundai allocate 30% of its net income to employee bonuses and provide stronger guarantees of job security, citing concerns about the increasing adoption of robotics and AI on assembly lines.
Union leaders have warned that the automaker’s push toward automation could reduce its workforce.
“We already see lots of robots deployed in the factories,” Kim Jin-wook, head of external relations for Hyundai’s union, told Reuters. “We are demanding management increase new hires, as the company is trying to reduce headcounts.”
