Hyundai Motor and Labor Union Reach Tentative Wage Agreement After Rare Full Day Strike

Hyundai Motor and its labor union reached a tentative wage agreement early Tuesday following the 17th round of negotiations. The deal follows a series of strikes, including a full day walkout on Friday that marked the first such action in a decade. The agreement includes a monthly base pay increase of 100,000 won, a performance bonus of 400 percent of monthly salary, and an additional payment of approximately 12.5 million to 12.7 million won. Other terms include the hiring of 500 new production workers between next year and 2028 and an agreement to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 if the government passes the necessary legislation. The tentative deal must be approved by a union vote scheduled for August 31. The labor dispute caused significant disruptions, with the union staging a combined 60 hours of strikes. Industry sources estimate these stoppages resulted in the loss of approximately 55,200 vehicles and sales losses exceeding 2.3 trillion won. The two sides also addressed the integration of artificial intelligence and robotics. Hyundai, which owns Boston Dynamics, plans to deploy humanoid robots at its Georgia plant in 2028. Management and the union agreed that adopting physical AI and robotics is essential for the company's survival and pledged to share information transparently regarding new projects. Center right outlets framed the agreement as a path to production recovery and a middle ground between initial demands, while center outlets focused on the specific financial terms and the scale of production losses.