Hyundai Motor workers on strike against FTA

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — Workers at South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor launched a partial strike Thursday to join an industry-wide walkout in protest at a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.

The four-hour strike crippled Hyundai's car production from 1:00 pm (0400 GMT). Unionised workers at its affiliate Kia Motors also downed tools.

The two-day walkout comes as the United States and South Korea are set to sign the free trade agreement reached on April 2 after 10 months of tough negotiations.

US and South Korean officials completed renegotiating the deal this week to reflect Washington's new commerce guidelines, awaiting for approval from their governments.

The pact, the biggest for the US since the 1993 North America Free Trade Agreement,...