Kia Workers Plan Strikes, Despite Hyundai’s New Labor Agreement

Kia Motors Corp.’s workers union is planning 4-hour strikes beginning Jan. 11 in an effort to pressure management to increase its labor-contract settlement offer, the union says on its website.

The 28,000-member union did not give a specific schedule for the strikes. As is typically the case, the union did not give Kia management formal notice of its strike plans, a Kia spokesman tells Ward’s.

Kia management has proposed a package very similar to that accepted without strike action by workers at sister auto maker Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.

The disputed Kia offer includes a 300% bonus, equal to 3-months’ wage, and a one-time contract settlement payout of about $4,000, if workers will accept a wage freeze this year.

The union says on its website the offer does not match the incentives provided in the Hyundai settlement. They are holding out for identical terms and settlement of some special items.

Kia has not issued a statement regarding the strike action.