Renault Samsung Motors Corp. has lifted the partial shutdown of its plant in Busan as its labor union decided to suspend the strikes on Tuesday to resume wage talks.

The South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A. announced Thursday that its plant goes back to normal operations following the union’s decision to end walkouts. The management and labor union will hold negotiations on February 4-7 for their 2019 wage deal.

Union workers went on partial strikes starting Dec. 20 after the wage negotiations deadlocked. The workers demanded an 8.01 percent wage increase but the management argued the demand cannot be accepted because of slow sales and an output cut.

The carmaker shuttered the factory during the night duty starting Jan.10, saying the protracted labor walkouts have caused tremendous losses to the company that is already suffering from sales woes. It was the second time for the company to partially idle its Busan factory after a one-day night duty shutdown during wage negotiations in May 2018.

The union has downed tools for about 500 hours in total since 2018, and the repeated walkout has caused more than 450 billion won ($385.5 million) in losses, the company claimed.

By Park Yun-gu and Choi Mira

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