SEOUL (Reuters) - General Motors Co’s South Korean unit on Monday said it has reached a tentative wage deal with its labor union, meeting a key condition laid down by the U.S. automaker to prevent it filing for bankruptcy for the money-losing operation.
With the deal, GM Korea’s board has dropped its plan to vote on Monday on filing for bankruptcy protection, a GM Korea spokesman said.
The U.S. automaker shocked South Korea in February when it unveiled a major restructuring plan for the unit, which involved shuttering one of its four plants in the country and voluntary redundancies for 2,600 workers.
GM has sought wage concessions from the union as well as government funding and incentives to save its remaining three South Korean factories.
The board of GM Korea delayed a decision to file for court-managed bankruptcy protection until Monday evening, after the automaker failed to reach a wage deal with its labor union in time to meet a Friday deadline.
“Through the latest agreement, GM Korea will be a competitive manufacturing company,” Kaher Kazem, chief executive of GM Korea, said in a statement in Korean.
The deal would pave the way for the Korea Development Bank (KDB) [KDB.UL] to provide support and for GM to allocate new models to South Korea to help turnaround GM Korea, the unit said in a statement.
KDB is GM Korea’s second-largest shareholder with a 17 percent stake. The U.S.
