The latest deal, which needs to be ratified in a union vote on July 27, included a 5.17 percent rise in basic salaries, a performance bonus equivalent of three months salary plus a 7 million Korean won ($6,637) payment, Kia said in a statement.

The agreement leaves Kia’s parent Hyundai Motor as the only South Korean carmaker that has not reached a 2011 wage deal.

Hyundai aims to reach a deal before its annual summer vacation that starts on July 30.

South Korea’s once-militant unions appear to have been tamed by the administration of President Lee Myung-bak who refused the back down in a labor dispute at car maker Ssangyong in 2009. 

Ssangyong Motor and the South Korean units of General Motors and Renault have already reached their 2011 wage deals with their labor groups.

GM Korea agreed to give workers record bonus and incentive payments of 6.5 million won ($6,144) each and hike basic salaries by 4.7 percent.