GM Korea, Union Reach Tentative Labor Agreement

GM Korea has reached a tentative labor agreement with its workers union, a spokesman tells WardsAuto.

The terms will be presented to workers for ratification Thursday night and Friday morning, following the mandatory Korea Independence Day holiday on Wednesday. Results of the ratification vote are expected to be announced later on Friday.

The tentative accord was reached Tuesday during the 25th session of talks, which began May 17.

“The tentative agreement includes a basic salary increase of 92,000 won ($81) per month; 5 million won ($4,428) in performance pay, which would be payable at the end of the year; and a one-time 3 million won ($2,655) lump-sum payment for agreeing to the new contract and stopping the strike action,” the spokesman says.

Some progress was made regarding the union’s demand that the auto maker scrap its night shift and implement two day shifts, with all work ended each day by midnight.

“As a matter of principle, the company has agreed on the necessity of stopping the night work, but there are a lot of issues around it,” the spokesman says.

“Both the union and management agree on the necessity of developing a new shift system, but the execution will take a lot of time and discussion. We agreed to discuss this in detail and develop plans in the first quarter of 2013, with implementation in the second quarter.”

The new collective bargaining and wage agreement, if ratified, would cover all 13,000 hourly and salaried employees, he says. However, it does not have any impact on GM Korea’s estimated 3,000 outsourced employees, who work for in-plant suppliers. Those workers must negotiate with their individual employers and not with the auto maker.

GM Korea saw a production loss of 13,000 vehicles resulting from 10 days of partial strikes held by union workers in July and August, the spokesman confirms.