Hyundai Workers End Strike Wave After 61.55% Vote Backs New Wage Deal
Published on 09/01/2026 at 04:10 | Editorial boerse-global.de
The picket lines outside Hyundai Motor's South Korean plants have fallen silent. Union members voted late Monday night to accept a fresh wage package, bringing a turbulent bargaining round to a close.
Roughly 39,000 workers were eligible to cast ballots in the ratification vote. The result, announced in the early hours of Tuesday, showed 61.55% support for the deal — enough to end a series of walkouts that had already carved deep holes in the carmaker's production schedule.
What's Inside the Agreement
The financial package gives employees a monthly base-salary increase of 100,000 won, or about $73. On top of that, workers receive a performance bonus equal to 400% of their base wage plus a fixed lump sum of 12.7 million won.
There are non-cash perks too. Each voting member gets 15 company shares, 500,000 won in welfare points, and a holiday allowance of 200,000 won.
Job security formed the other pillar of the negotiations. Hyundai has committed to creating 500 new positions by 2028 — 200 of them next year and the remaining 300 in 2028.
Counting the Cost of the Strikes
The settlement comes after a costly industrial action that saw workers walk out for a combined 60 hours. That translated into 120 hours of lost production, during which 55,200 vehicles never made it off the line. The company puts the revenue hit at 2.3 trillion won.
Those losses compound an already difficult year. Hyundai's operating profit for the first half fell 25.8%, and the company is now leaning on a slate of new hybrid models — including versions of the Tucson and the GV80 — to regain momentum in the second half.
Uneven Picture Across South Korean Industry
Hyundai's resolution stands in contrast to a more unsettled landscape elsewhere. Sister brand Kia wrapped up its own talks earlier, securing nearly identical terms: a 100,000 won base-pay hike, the same 400% bonus, and the 12.7 million won lump sum. That marks Kia's sixth consecutive year without a strike.
Renault Korea has also concluded its wage negotiations successfully.
But storm clouds remain. Steelmaker Posco faces a potential strike starting September 9 — which would be its first in 58 years. And HD Hyundai Heavy is planning partial walkouts in the coming days, a sign that tensions in the heavy-industry sector are far from resolved.
