이 누리집은 대한민국 공식 전자정부 누리집입니다.
Biz News Korea(Eng)
Kia Motors CEO warns of labor market disruption from base salary woes
- Collected
- 2017.08.22
- Distributed
- 2017.08.23
- Source
- Go Direct
Kia Motors faces a court ruling on Aug. 31 on a lawsuit by 27,000 factory workers demanding what they claim are overdue wages by counting in overtime, bonuses, and other incentives as base salary.
The country’s second largest automaker would have to pay around 3 trillion won ($2.64 billion) extra to its employees if it loses the trial.
“Overtime is common at automaking sites. If it is included in base salary, compensation could shoot up 50 percent,” said Kia Motors CEO Park Han-woo in a seminar among automakers on Tuesday.
The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), the interest group for the country’s five automakers, earlier this month issued a statement ahead of the Kia Motors ruling that they would have to take manufacturing bases out of the country if labor costs and strife worsen.
“We can pay the past dues if we lose, but our bottom line will be devastated at a time when we are struggling with sluggish sales in the U.S. and China,” he said.
Moreover, if compensations go up, the union of the company’s bigger affiliate Hyundai Motor will make the same demand. “The entire labor market could be disrupted,” he said.
Park handed in a petition to the court bench to explain the management’s position.
He called upon the government to fix the ambiguity in defining the base salary.
The seminar comes as Korean automakers have been under multiple whammies - slump in sales in the world’s two largest automobile markets, labor strife, and lawsuits challenging the base salary term.
By Park Chang-young
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]