Labor and management at SK Hynix have drawn up a revised tentative collective wage agreement about three weeks after the initial tentative deal was voted down by union members.

Regarding the profit-sharing (PS) payment method, which was the biggest point of contention, the proportion of cash payout was increased from the previous 40% to 50%, while the stock payout proportion was lowered from 60% to 50%.

In addition, the 20% deferred portion of last year's PS, which was originally scheduled to be paid out over the next two years, will now be paid in full all at once this year.

According to industry sources, labor and management at SK Hynix drew up the revised tentative agreement yesterday (September 9), and the union representing full-time production workers held an emergency extraordinary delegates meeting today to explain the renegotiated terms to union members.

The revised proposal adjusted the basic payout ratio for performance-based bonuses from the previous 40% cash and 60% stock to 50% cash and 50% stock.

Specifically, of the total PS, 80% payable for the current year will be split into 50% cash and 30% stock, while the remaining 20% will be deferred and paid in stock over one year and two years, respectively, at 10% each.

As a result, the overall ratio of cash to stock for the total PS will each be 50%.

However, to expand individual choice, employees who wish to do so will be allowed to select a higher stock proportion from the baseline 50% up to a maximum of 100% in increments of 10 percentage points.

The previously deferred payments will also be distributed earlier to reduce confusion stemming from changes to the performance bonus payout method.

SK Hynix decided to advance the payment of the deferred portion—originally scheduled to be paid next year and the year after—calculated based on last year's performance.

Initially, 80% of the PS was to be paid this year with the remaining 20% distributed over the next two years, but the remaining deferred portion is now being paid ahead of schedule.

The company also agreed to shoulder any additional costs arising from increases in stock prices during the stock distribution process.

The housing loan system was also partially supplemented.

While additional support beyond the basic support was previously limited to married households, the revised proposal includes single-parent households as eligible for support.

The initial tentative agreement reached last month included provisions to pay 40% of the PS in cash and 60% in company shares.

However, in the vote by union members of the production workers' union on August 25, the deal was voted down by a narrow margin of just 25 votes, with 50.08% (7,535 voters) voting against and 49.92% (7,510 voters) voting in favor.

At the time, considerable dissatisfaction was reportedly widespread among employees over the significant expansion of the stock proportion compared to the traditional cash-centered bonus system.

Analyses indicated that concerns—such as the actual compensation value fluctuating depending on stock price changes and worries that the proportion of stock payouts could increase further in the future—affected the opposing votes.

Following the rejection, labor and management have since renegotiated and readjusted detailed terms, including the bonus payment method and deferred payment conditions.

The union plans to hold a general vote of its members on the revised tentative agreement from September 15 to 16.

(Photo: Yonhap News)