SEOUL, June 30 (Reuters) - A four-day strike by unionised workers at South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co appeared to be at a critical juncture on Wednesday as the country's largest and most powerful union was set to resume wage negotiations.
Hyundai Motor has been at the forefront of recent labour strife, which has been led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a labour group with 600,000 members.
The country traditionally faces a seasonal rise in union action every summer, but labour unrest this year poses a big headache for a government struggling to bolster sluggish local demand and business spending.
"We will begin wage negotiations at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) with a final proposal to be presented by the management," Chang Gyu-ho, a union spokesman at Hyundai Motor.
"If the final offers are not satisfactory, we would have no other choice but to launch a longer-term strike," he added.
The union is demanding a 10.48 percent wage hike and a bonus worth 30 percent of the company's profit. If agreed, this would lift average Korean auto worker pay rates to $27 an hour, above their U.S. peer's $26 an hour.
A combined 110,000 workers at Hyundai Motor and smaller auto makers, textile companies, department stores and other workplaces downed tools on Tuesday, demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
As of Tuesday, the strike at Hyundai Motor and smaller rivals has cost 161.5 billion won ($140.3 million) or a combined 11,559 vehicles in lost production.
Ssangyong Motor Co > said the country's sports utility vehicle maker resumed operations on Wednesday after a four-hour work stoppage a day earlier.
Despite the threat of a broader walkout, analysts said they did not expect the current Hyundai strikes to be as violent or disruptive as some previous ones that took weeks to end.
A labour dispute at Hyundai last year went on for 45 days.
Shares in Hyundai Motor jumped 3.3 percent to 44,150 won at 0215 GMT versus the main board's one percent rise.
($1=1151.0 Won)