Kia Motors union holds longer partial strike over wages

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- The union of South Korea's second-largest carmaker,
Kia Motors Corp., launched a longer partial strike Monday than it did last week
to protest a management wage proposal.
Starting Monday, about 28,000 workers at Kia plan to lay down their tools for
eight hours each day, compared with four hours a day last week, at the company's
three domestic plants, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The duration of the strike will be increased to 12 hours from Thursday if the
issue is not resolved, according to the filing.
Since Monday last week, the union of Kia has been staged a partial strike,
demanding Kia pay a hefty bonus and other one-time payouts received by workers of
Hyundai Motor Co. Kia is an affiliate of Hyundai.
Under a wage deal reached without a strike last year, Hyundai workers received
more than 10 million won (about US$8,885) each, including a 300 percent bonus and
40 shares of the automaker.
Kia offered to pay a 300 percent bonus plus a one-time payout of 4.6 million won
in return for freezing wages for 2010, but the union refused the offer, according
to media reports.
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