S.Korea's Kumho Tire says strikes hurt operation
SEOUL, July 2 (Reuters) - South Korea's Kumho Tires Co Ltd (073240.KS) said operations at its two main domestic plants were disrupted as its workers started partial strikes from Wednesday, which it sees resulting in $2.84 million of lost output a day.
Members of a militant South Korean labour group, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), planned to walk off the job on Wednesday. Unionised workers at Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS) are also expected to stop work for two hours under the strike action.
Kumho said in a filing with the Korea Exchange that a failure to seal wage negotiations led to the industrial action, under which each shift will stay idle for four hours a day. The company estimated daily output loss at 2.98 billion won ($2.84 million).
The strike action is expected to be resolved this month, said an official at the company, without elaborating.
Shares at Kumho, South Korea's No. 2 tyre maker, were down 0.22 percent to 8,890 won by 0309 GMT, compared with the wider market's 2.2 percent loss.
Kumho supplies tyres as original equipment to not only local car makers such as Hyundai and Kia but also to Germany's Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), Daimler AG's (DAIGn.DE)'s premium division Mercedes Benz and U.S. Chrysler LLC. ($1=1048.7 Won) (Reporting by Rhee So-eui; Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
