In a move to stay competitive and maintain its skilled workforce, Hyundai Motor HYMTF has announced a significant wage increase for its production teams in Alabama and Georgia.
What Happened: The South Korean automaker declared the new wage structure on Sunday, which will impact production team members at its Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) and Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) plants in Georgia. Starting from January 2024, the wage strategy will see a 25% rise in hourly wages for U.S. production team members by 2028.
HMMA, operational since 2005, will see a 14% wage boost for its production team at the beginning of 2024, on top of a raise received earlier in 2023. The company attributes this to the team’s consistent high-quality performance, safety, and other internal metrics.
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“We have the best team members in the industry, and we are compensating them accordingly,” stated José Muñoz, President and Global COO of Hyundai Motor Company and President and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America.
Hyundai’s investment strategy includes $290 million for the enhancement of its popular SUV production, with $190 million earmarked for tooling and equipment upgrades for the fifth-generation Santa Fe. An additional $12.6 billion is being pumped into the construction of HMGMA and two battery joint ventures in Georgia, likely to create 12,000 direct jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs.
Why It Matters: Hyundai’s wage increase comes amid a backdrop of labor unrest in the U.S. automotive industry. In October 2023, General Motors GM reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) to end a costly 6-week strike, agreeing to a 25% hourly pay rise.
However, the following month, production workers at Ford Motor Co F plants in Louisville and Kentucky voiced opposition to a similar labor agreement.
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