Record payouts at SK hynix ripple across Korea Inc., with Samsung Electronics workers threatening a walkout and Hyundai Motor’s union seeking up to 30 percent of net profit in bonuses
Windfall bonuses at SK hynix, driven by strong earnings amid a global AI chip boom, are resetting pay benchmarks, as unions at Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor step up pressure for larger payouts, news reports said Monday.
With a forecast operating profit of around 250 trillion won ($169 billion) this year, SK hynix is expected to pay average bonuses of about 700 million won per employee early next year, allocating 10 percent of its earnings to roughly 35,000 employees under a labor management agreement reached in September.
SK hynix’s consensus forecast for this year, compiled by market tracker FnGuide, stands at 273.59 trillion won in revenue and 199.60 trillion won in operating profit.
The chip giant already paid profit-sharing bonuses averaging about 140 million won per employee in February, according to industry sources.
Bonuses at SK hynix have become a focal point in labor disputes at its chipmaking rival, Samsung Electronics. Samsung has long been the more preferred employer among job seekers between the two chip firms, offering slightly higher starting salaries and a stronger reputation as part of the country’s most prominent conglomerate, Samsung Group.
“About 200 employees have moved to SK hynix over the past four months. Fair compensation is needed to retain talent,” said Choi Seung-ho, head of the Samsung Electronics unit at the Samsung Group United Union, at a press conference held last week at the company’s office building in southern Seoul.
The union is calling on management to set aside 15 percent of operating profit for employee bonuses.
Market analysts estimate that Samsung Electronics’s operating profit will average around 298 trillion won this year. Based on that estimate, the company would need to pay about 44.7 trillion won in bonuses alone. For the semiconductor division, which employs about 77,000 workers, the payout would average roughly 580 million won per employee.
Management proposed matching the 10 percent level at SK hynix. The union rejected the offer and warned of a general strike from May 21 to June 7 after a large-scale rally on Thursday at the company’s Pyeongtaek plant in Gyeonggi Province.
The labor union at Hyundai Motor has also joined calls for higher bonuses.
In its latest wage demands, the union included a proposal to allocate 30 percent of last year’s net profit for payouts. Based on Hyundai Motor’s annual net profit of 10.36 trillion won, the total payout would be over 3 trillion won, industry sources said.
Rising bonus demands among large corporations have sparked online debate over whether such payouts should be shared with the public.
On Saturday, an anonymous post on workplace community app Blind titled “Why are SK hynix bonuses only for its employees?” argued that the company was bailed out with taxpayers’ money during a period of financial difficulty and that its performance bonuses should therefore be returned to the public.
The company was under creditor management led by the state-run Korea Development Bank for nearly a decade before being acquired by SK Group in 2011.
cjh@heraldcorp.com
