Unionized workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. staged a sit-in protest Wednesday at the company's Seoul office after a partial strike earlier in the day, demanding immediate settlement of an ongoing pay raise dispute.
   
The unionists went on a seven-hour walkout from 9 a.m. at the company headquarters in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the third such strike since Nov. 17.
   
The union and management plan to hold negotiations later this week to try to resolve the pay dispute. Two of the company's units, Hyundai Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., have reached wage agreements.
   
There have been dozens of rounds of negotiations since June to avert a full strike. The company has offered a base salary increase of 37,000 won (US$33.8), company stocks equivalent to 100 percent of the base salary and 3 million won in a one-time incentive bonus.
   
Unionists are demanding 132,000 won in higher pay, which would be a 6.51 percent hike, and at least 250 percent of the base salary in performance-based benefits.
  

Hyundai Heavy posted a record quarterly operating loss of 1.93 trillion won in the third quarter, with a net loss of 1.46 trillion won. Sales fell 5.6 percent.
   
To turn its finances around, the company has been pushing ahead with sales of assets, including its stocks and properties and those of its subsidiaries. (Yonhap)