Strike over wages ends at Nexen's Czech tire plant

ŽATEC, Czech Republic — Workers at Nexen Tire Corp.'s 4-year-old car and light truck truck plant in Žatec have returned to work after a week-long series of protest actions organized by the trade union representing the workers

The Kovo Trade Union said it had reached an agreement with the Korean tire maker on a number of issues, including an 8% wage increase effective March 1. The union's action culminated a three-year-old dispute over a "reasonable increase" in wages.

In addition, the union said it expected financial compensation of roughly $900 for employees for not having received a raise in wages for 2022 and the first three months of the current year.

The remaining points of the agreement, Kovo said, will be discussed and agreed upon by the end of March at the latest.

The plant employs 989 people.

"The wording of the current agreement is a compromise between the demands that we presented as the Kovo Trade Union and the well-founded counter-arguments of the representatives of the Korean owner of Nexen Tire," Kovo Chairman Roman Durco said.

"In any case, it means a huge shift," he added.

Nexen Tire has as yet not commented publicly on the matter.

Nexen opened the $1 billion factory in summer 2019 after a three-and-a-half-years of construction.

The plant has a nameplate capacity of roughly 15,000 units a day, but Nexen recently disclosed it had secured funding valued at $322 million that it will put toward expanding production capacity to over 12 million tires by year-end 2024.

The Kovo Trade Union is affiliated with the Metal Workers' Federation in the Czech Republic.