SK Hynix unions approve deal shifting half of bonuses to cash

SK Hynix Inc. has struck an agreement with its union to pay out half of all profit-sharing bonuses in cash, resolving a dispute that threatened to disrupt production at the world’s second-biggest memory chipmaker.

SK hynix’s production workers’ unions on Wednesday approved a revised tentative agreement reached between their representatives and management, under which employees will receive half of their performance bonuses in cash and the other half in company shares, concluding this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations without a labor dispute. According to SK hynix, the two production workers’ unions at the company approved the tentative agreement with a 57.08 percent vote in support. More than 15,000 of the unions’ 16,000 eligible members took part in the vote. The two unions respectively represent production workers at the company’s Icheon plant in Gyeonggi Province and Cheongju plant in North Chungcheong Province. A key feature of the agreement is that half of the performance bonuses, known as excess profit-sharing, will be paid in cash, while the other half will be paid in the form of treasury shares. The revised agreement replaces an earlier tentative deal that called for 60 percent of the bonuses to be paid in treasury shares and the remainder in cash, which the t

Unionized workers at SK hynix Inc. on Wednesday approved a revised wage agreement that was rejected three weeks ago. In an electronic ballot, 57.08 percent of union members voted in favor of the new agreement. The vote came about three weeks after the union narrowly rejected the initial tentative agreement reached on Aug. 25. Under the updated pact, the portion of the company's performance-based incentive, known as profit-sharing, to be paid in cash will increase to 50 percent from 40 percent, while the portion paid in company shares will decrease to 50 percent from 60 percent. In the previous agreement, SK hynix and its union had agreed to a 6.3 percent wage increase and a new payment structure for the company's performance-based incentive. Under the proposal, 40 percent of the incentive would be paid in cash and the remaining 60 percent in company shares.