Seoul, Sep 26 (IANS): The workers of Hyundai Motor in South Korea staged a full nationwide strike on Monday, the first since 2004 when the company's production line came to a standstill.

"If the company does not want to move forward together, we are going to show them the consequences of their actions," said the union of workers in a pamphlet, EFE news reported.

The activity in Hyundai's South Korean factories came to a grinding halt at 6.45 p.m. local time on Sunday after the workers rejected the latest tentative wage deal offered by the management.

Under the agreement, Hyundai had offered to increase workers' basic monthly pay by 58,000 won, provide one bonus payment of 3.3 million won and to withdraw a heavily-criticised wage ceiling.

Nearly 50,000 union members (more than 78 per cent) representing the vast majority of Hyundai's approximately 6,50,000 employees here, voted against the tentative wage deal.

In recent months, both sides have sat down to negotiate up to 26 times together. A total of 19 partial strikes have been staged this year, costing the company around 1,01,400 vehicles or 2.23 trillion won loss in production.

The Hyundai labour union said they will continue the strike for six-hours each day this week, except for days when negotiations are scheduled with the employer.