Unionised workers of Kia vote in favour of strike for higher wages

Seoul, Sep 20
Unionised workers of Kia Corp., a major carmaker in South Korea, have voted in favour of a strike to call for higher wages and other benefits.

In a daylong vote, 79.5 percent of members of Kia's labor union supported the strike plan, with some 87 percent of the total of 25,798 members having cast ballots, according to the union, reports Yonhap news agency.

Kia workers have been calling for a raise in their base salary and performance bonus as well as an extension of the retirement age to 64 and the introduction of a four-day workweek system.

With the vote, the Kia labor union has secured the legal right to stage a walkout if arbitration breaks down at the National Labor Relations Commission.

The union plans to launch a committee on Monday to discuss whether to actually stage a strike if talks fall through.

"With the overwhelming approval rate confirming the anger and united will of our members, the union will break through with collective strength if talks break down," the union said in a statement.

"If the management presents a proposal acceptable to the members, we are ready to conclude negotiations at any time," it added.

Kia's labour and management successfully concluded wage negotiations without a strike from 2020 to last year.

Meanwhile, South Korea's car exports increased 8.6 percent from a year earlier in August despite U.S. tariffs, thanks to robust demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe, data showed.

The value of outbound shipments of automobiles came to US$5.5 billion last month, the highest figure for any August, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

In terms of volume, exports gained 5.5 percent on-year to 200,317 vehicles last month.

The value of accumulated auto exports from January to August reached an all-time high of $47.7 billion.