Hyundai Nošovice agrees with
unions on wage increase

A new form of the wage section of the collective agreement (CA) was confirmed today at the Hyundai plant in Nošovice. The growth in basic wages will be at least 11.7% on average as of April 1, 2023. A worker in the position of Operator 3, which is the most frequent at the HMMC plant, will thus see an increase of CZK 4,000 per month in the basic wage in April 2023 and a further CZK 3,000 from January 2024.

The current wage part of the CA is valid until March 31, 2023, so in October last year, the Hyundai carmaker in Nošovice began negotiations with the union on its new form. After the eighth round of collective bargaining before Christmas, the unions requested that a mediator take over the resolution of the disputed points of the CA. The mediator then delivered a compromise proposal for resolving the collective dispute after negotiations with both parties, to which both the company and the union agreed.

“The automotive industry has had to deal with a number of difficult challenges in recent years, which our plant continues to face. Given the external circumstances, it has not been easy for either party to find an intersection between their mutual ideas on the form of a new collective agreement. The agreed above-standard wage increase and other related adjustments are both an appreciation of the excellent work of our employees and our goal is to maintain our position as the best employer in the Moravian-Silesian Region and to remain at the top of the Czech Republic in terms of employee remuneration,” said Petr Michník, Head of the Administration Subdivision of HMMC.

The automotive plant in Nošovice offers above-average financial remuneration not only in the Moravian-Silesian region, with average monthly earnings in blue-collar positions reaching CZK 47,518 in 2022.

In addition, after signing an amendment to the Collective Agreement, employees will receive an extraordinary bonus of CZK 30,000 in February pay and another CZK 10,000 payable by April 30, 2024. The expected final increase in earnings will thus be even more significant than the percentage increase in basic wages.

“Collective bargaining is always about finding a compromise, and even though it was very difficult and problematic to reach, we did reach it in the end. And only time will tell what benefits the new form of the wage supplement to the collective agreement will actually have for the employees, because this time we did not negotiate only on the increase in basic wages and the amount of the compensation bonus, but also on other components of the wage, which also have an impact on the remuneration of employees,” commented Patrik Fupšo, chairman of the trade union.

The signing of the amendment to the collective agreement for the period from April 2023 to the end of March 2025 will take place in the coming days. The new addendum also addresses other adjustments that will have a positive impact on the financial remuneration of employees. These include, for example, a modification of the rules for the payment of attendance bonuses, an increase in the overtime pay and a higher contribution to the Benefits Cafeteria. Another new feature concerns the length of leave – while employees are entitled to 25 days of leave and after 7 years of work at HMMC they are entitled to an extra day of leave, they will now be entitled to 26 days of leave after 5 years and an additional day of leave after 15 years of work.