(NEWSnet/AP) — South Korea automaker Hyundai has joined Honda and Toyota in raising wage for factory workers after United Auto Workers reached a new contract with Detroit automakers.

Hyundai said it will raise factory worker pay 25% by 2028, matching the general wage increase won by UAW during that period. Toyota raised factory pay 9% to 10% starting in January. Honda said it will increase its wage 11%

Labor experts say the increases are at least in part aimed at thwarting UAW President Shawn Fain’s strategy of trying to organize U.S. auto plants run by foreign automakers and Tesla, to increase the union's bargaining power.

Hyundai did not specify the hourly wage at its factory in Montgomery, Alabama, or how much it will pay at an electric vehicle factory under construction near Savannah, Georgia. By early 2024, the company said it will have increased factory worker pay 14% within the previous year.

“Hyundai continuously strives to maintain competitive wages and benefits commensurate to industry peers,” Jose Munoz, Hyundai's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Harry Katz, a professor of collective bargaining at Cornell University, estimates that Hyundai pays around $25 per hour, and the nonunion plants' retirement, health care and other benefits typically are not as good as UAW workers receive.

Copyright 2023 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.