Kia Workers Accept Wage Agreement

Union workers ratify a contract with South Korea’s Kia that has financial terms identical to those contained in a previously rejected agreement.

The second agreement was accepted by 64.4% of those who voted Aug. 19. The first agreement was rejected July 27 by 63% of workers who voted.

Kia to establish two shifts at all Korean assembly plants.

“The main difference between the first tentative agreement and the second is that we stressed social responsibility, not wage,” a Kia spokesman tells Ward’s.

“In the second agreement, we have established 5 billion won ($4.63 million) in scholarships for children of workers who lost their parents due to traffic accidents.”

Workers will receive a special bonus of 7 million won ($6,484), 80 shares of Kia stock, an appreciation bonus of three months’ basic salary, and a 90,000-won ($83) monthly salary increase.

The spokesman says Kia paid the 7 million won and one-third of the 3-month basic salary bonus immediately after the new agreement was ratified.

“We will pay the remaining two months’ bonus in December, and we will give them the 80 shares of stock at the end of October,” he adds.

The new agreement also reduces the amount of evening overtime and conforms with plans to establish a 2-shift operation at all plants that was first agreed upon in 2005.

This is the second year in a row that Kia has avoided a strike before reaching a new contract with its workers.

The two sides neither announced the second tentative agreement when it was reached Aug. 17, nor did they make an official announcement when it was ratified last week.