Hyundai Heavy to stage partial strike for higher pay

SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- Unionized workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. will enter a partial strike on Friday as they have yet to seal a wage deal for the year of 2019, the union said Monday.

Hyundai Heavy and its union have held 46 rounds of negotiations from May 2 last year through March 12 to narrow their differences over wages and the standards for bonuses.

"The union will hold a two-hour strike on Friday as the wage talks are at stalemate," a union spokesman said over the phone.

The union has demanded a 6.68 percent increase in basic pay and asked the company to pay some bonuses despite declines in earnings. But the company balked at the idea of paying a bonus despite poor performance.

Hyundai Heavy, the world's biggest shipbuilder by orders, posted a net profit of 115.3 billion won (US$94 million) for the whole of 2019, down 59 percent from 284 billion won a year earlier.

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