Kia Motors union to hold partial strike over wages

SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- The union of South Korea's second-largest carmaker, Kia
Motors Corp., will stage a partial strike next week to protest the management's
wage proposal, the union said Friday.
Starting Monday, about 28,000 workers at Kia will lay down their tools for four
hours a day at the company's three domestic plants, the union said on its Web
site.
Shares of Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., dropped 1.58 percent to 18,650
won (US$16.5) in early afternoon trading on the Seoul bourse.
The union is demanding Kia pay a hefty bonus and other one-time payouts received
by Hyundai workers.
Under a wage deal reached without a strike last year, Hyundai workers receive
more than 10 million won 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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