Hyundai, Union Reach Deal

Hyundai and the union of its South Korea-based workers approved a deal that was tentatively reached last week.

The agreement comes as the United Auto Workers strike against the big three Detroit automakers and Ford employees in Canada near the expiration of their union contract without a deal yet.

The Hyundai deal, in its manufacturing home base, includes about a 5% pay increase, a bonus and other adds, according to news reports.

Negotiations between the union and the automaker, along with those between UAW and the big three and Ford and its employees’ Unifor union in Canada, have been closely watched in the industry, which has started to recover from pandemic-era supply constraints this year. Interruptions in production could at least slow the supply-and-demand rebalancing, especially in light of still-high vehicle prices and high interest rates, analysts say.

The Hyundai workers union had also asked for an increase in the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 64, but the company declined make that change.

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