The tentative wage and collective bargaining agreement, reached by SK Hynix management and labor union after two months of negotiations, was rejected in a union vote with 50.08% opposing it.
The SK Hynix labor union announced on the 25th that the electronic voting on the tentative agreement, which closed at 9 a.m., resulted in 50.08% (7,535 members) voting against it, leading to its rejection. The voter turnout reached 93.81%, with 15,045 out of 16,083 total union members participating.
Although a majority of registered union members voted, the agreement was voted down as a majority of the voters opposed it. The approval rate was 49.92% (7,510 members).
Management and the union are set to resume negotiations. They are likely to readjust detailed agenda items, focusing primarily on key issues such as the performance-based bonus payment method. The SK Hynix union has a precedent of entering into renegotiations with the management after tentative wage agreements were voted down in both 2023 and 2024.
Previously, SK Hynix management and the union had formulated a tentative agreement on the 20th that included a 6.3% wage increase, along with paying 40% of the Profit-Sharing (PS) bonus in cash and the remaining 60% in company stock.
Of the distributed shares, 40% can be sold in the corresponding year, while 20% is deferred and paid at 10% over two years. However, for the 2026 PS portion to be paid early next year, members were given the option to choose cash for the portion of shares tradable in the current year. Consequently, up to 80% of next year’s payment can be received in cash.
