The union of South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday that its members have endorsed a tentative wage deal reached last week.

The agreement was approved by 55.1 percent of the more than 42,300 union members who voted on Monday, the union said. About 4,000 other union members did not vote.

"It is fortunate that we concluded a deal without anymore disruption," union spokesman Kwon Oh-il said by phone from Ulsan, home to Hyundai's main production facility, located some 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The deal calls for a hike of 97,000 won (US$89) in basic salaries and 8 million won in an incentive payment and performance-related bonus as well as other benefits.

The move came weeks after Hyundai's 46,000 unionized workers downed their tools 10 times to press for a wage hike and other fringe benefits.

The partial strikes prevented Hyundai from producing 50,191 units, costing the carmaker 1.22 trillion won in lost production, according to the company.

Labor disputes at Hyundai Motor have been an almost annual event in the past two decades. Its workers have downed tools every year since 1986 except for in 1994, 2009, 2010 and 2011. A strike last year cost the carmaker some 1.7 trillion won in lost production. (Yonhap News)