"Over 600 Million Won Per Person" Expected... Tug-of-War Between Cash and Company Shares

[Anchor]

Following Samsung Electronics, which nearly went on strike, a conflict over performance-based bonuses has now emerged at SK Hynix. With each employee expected to receive more than 600 million won in bonuses, the labor and management are showing differences in their positions regarding the payment method.

Morning Zoom-In, reporter Jeong Seong-jin.

[Reporter]

The labor and management of SK Hynix, who agreed a year ago to pay 10 percent of last year's operating profit as performance bonuses without a cap for 10 years, have entered a tug-of-war just one year later.

The current bonus structure involves receiving 80 percent in cash within that year and the remaining 20 percent divided in cash over two years, while employees can choose to receive up to 50 percent of their bonuses in company shares.

However, management has put a proposal on the table for this year's wage negotiations to make the payment of a portion of the bonuses in company shares mandatory.

As SK Hynix's operating profit this year is projected to exceed 200 trillion won due to a record semiconductor boom, employees are expected to receive performance bonuses of more than 600 million won per person.

This is interpreted as being driven by social controversy surrounding the scale of the bonuses, the burden of large-scale cash payouts, and managerial decisions to link employee compensation with corporate value.

Analysts suggest that another contributing factor was the pressure from similar demands spreading to other major conglomerates—pushing Samsung Electronics to the brink of a strike—along with intensifying backlash from shareholders.

[Choi Tae-won / SK Group Chairman (on the 15th): "I think the mindset we currently hold is that one should not become happy by breaking the happiness of stakeholders."]

With the labor union pushing back by stating that they can never accept any changes that result in losses, it is reported that the differences in positions were not narrowed even during the 3rd negotiation session on the 14th and the intensive working-level negotiations on the 21st.

Amid the resurgence of controversy over performance bonuses, President Lee Jae-myung pointed out that the scope of subjects eligible for labor disputes seems to be expanding too broadly.

[President Lee Jae-myung (on the 21st, Cabinet Meeting): "As for whether the issue of distributing a certain percentage of operating profit is really a legitimate subject for labor disputes, in my case, I lean more toward thinking it is not."]

Shareholder groups have also filed complaints with investigative agencies against Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon as well as the chief executives of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, arguing that performance bonuses should not be a subject of labor-management negotiations.

(Video Editing: Park Na-young, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.