GM Korea reaches tentative labor deal after strikes, securing successor model and W15m bonus

GM Korea's management and union reached a tentative agreement in this year's wage and collective bargaining negotiations, clearing a major hurdle in a prolonged labor dispute and halting a strike. Whether the deal becomes final depends on the outcome of a member ratification vote scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

The two sides announced the tentative agreement Wednesday at the 17th round of wage and collective bargaining talks. The union plans to hold a joint executive meeting Thursday to share the results before conducting the ratification vote — targeting the night shift Monday and the day and fixed day shifts Tuesday.

The tentative agreement includes a base wage increase of 92,000 won ($62) per month and a performance bonus of 15 million won per worker.

Beyond wages, the two sides also discussed a plan to allocate future vehicle models to GM Korea's plants to sustain the company's medium- and long-term production base. They agreed to work toward finalizing a successor model by the third quarter of 2027.

The union said the negotiations were not simply about wages but about securing GM Korea's sustainability and job stability. Production volume at the Bupyeong and Changwon factories and the allocation of future vehicle models had been the central sticking points, and the union said it had kept successor model allocation at the top of the bargaining agenda throughout.

"The 2026 struggle was not about squeezing out a few more won — it was a practical fight to secure a sustainable future for GM Korea," a GM Korea union official said. "We agreed to work toward finalizing the successor model within the third quarter of 2027, and we also achieved some results on wages and collective bargaining terms, which brought us to this tentative agreement."

Asif Khatri, GM's vice president of international operations manufacturing, said the tentative agreement "represents meaningful progress made together by the company and the union," adding that completing this year's negotiations was critical to securing investment for a better future through shared, responsible efforts toward stable operations and sustainable growth.

However, the union said the tentative agreement does not resolve every outstanding issue. It said discussions on future vehicle allocation and stable employment would continue.

If the tentative agreement passes the ratification vote, GM Korea's management and union are expected to finalize this year's wage and collective bargaining deal and accelerate the normalization of production.

The GM Korea union had staged two rounds of partial strikes over this year's negotiations — from Wednesday to Thursday last week and from Tuesday through Wednesday this week. The union had demanded a base wage increase of 149,600 won per month, a performance bonus of about 30 million won per worker, and a plan to assign new vehicle models, while management countered with an offer of an 81,000 won base wage increase and an 11.5 million won bonus. The two sides failed to reach an agreement through 16 rounds of talks but found common ground on wage terms and successor model allocation at the 17th round — the last session before the summer holiday break.