Kia Labor Union to Resume Strike

The labor union of Kia Motors, South Korea's No. 2 carmaker, Sunday threatened to resume a partial strike in the coming week due to the failure of wage negotiations.

"We will resume the discontinued partial strike from Monday," the union was quoted as saying. "Day-shift workers will walk off their jobs for four hours, with night-shift unions doing the same."

The labor and management of the carmaker failed to iron out differences in wage talks on Friday. Demanding a pay raise and improved working conditions, the union had been staging an eight-hour walkout that was temporarily stopped Thursday ahead of the meeting.

Both sides have held a series of wage negotiations since May, but they failed to narrow their differences, prompting the union to stage a walkout late last month.

The union is demanding that Kia raise its base monthly salary by 5.5 percent and offer a 200 percent bonus. The management, however, is pushing for a wage freeze, citing unfavorable market conditions amid the global economic crisis.

A company official said it cannot accept the union's unreasonable demand in light of a protracted economic slump.

Kia said the partial strike, if prolonged, could cost the company up to 1 trillion won ($807 million) in lost production. The automaker said previous strikes have already cost 500 billion won in lost output.