Workers at SK Hynix are moving to form a new union that would bring together production workers and technical and office employees, as a growing dispute over performance bonuses fuels dissatisfaction with the company’s existing unions.
More than 3,500 employees, or roughly 10% of SK Hynix’s workforce of about 35,000, joined a group preparing to establish the union within three days of its formation on August 5. Organizers said an application to establish the union was filed on August 8 and that it could be formally launched as early as the week of August 10.
SK Hynix currently has multiple unions representing different groups of employees. A union for technical and office workers affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and production-worker unions at its Icheon and Cheongju plants affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions are negotiating wages and working conditions separately with management.
Organizers of the proposed union say combining the groups could give workers greater bargaining power by putting their demands under one organization.
The immediate trigger is a dispute over SK Hynix’s performance-bonus system.
The proposed union’s interim chairman said its top priority would be to ensure that the company fully honors a bonus agreement reached last year. The group also plans to demand that management withdraw its proposed changes to the bonus system and keep performance bonuses outside future collective bargaining for the next 10 years.
Under the agreement reached in 2025, SK Hynix and its unions agreed to remove the cap on the company’s Profit Sharing, or PS, program, which allocates 10% of operating profit to the bonus pool. The arrangement was set to remain in place for 10 years. Employees would receive 80% of the bonus in cash in the year it was earned, with the remaining 20% deferred over two years.
Management has proposed changing the system in this year’s negotiations by paying part of the bonus in company stock and restricting employees from selling the shares for a specified period, according to people familiar with the talks.
The proposal has drawn opposition from employees who say stock-based compensation could cause the value of their bonuses to fluctuate with SK Hynix’s share price. Some also object to reopening a compensation arrangement they viewed as settled under last year’s agreement.
Tensions have been compounded by the slow pace of negotiations. The two sides have held five rounds of formal talks without reaching significant progress, prompting some employees to question whether existing unions are adequately representing their interests.
Critics have also accused the unions of failing to sufficiently reflect members’ views and of providing limited information about the negotiations.
Government policy is adding to the uncertainty surrounding performance-based pay.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said at a forum on August 6 that he opposed compensation systems directly linked to operating profit. He also said the government was discussing potential amendments to the Commercial Act and the Capital Markets Act with other ministries.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor has said it plans to issue guidelines in August clarifying the subjects and scope of collective bargaining, including performance-based compensation.
Some SK Hynix employees say existing unions have not responded forcefully enough to the government’s moves, adding to calls for a new organization.
The rise of a large union at Samsung Electronics has provided another point of reference.
Samsung Electronics’ Super Enterprise Union, which at one point had more than 76,000 members and secured majority-union status, won the introduction of a special semiconductor performance bonus in this year’s wage negotiations.
The outcome has drawn attention inside SK Hynix, where some workers see a larger, unified union as a way to strengthen their negotiating position.
Still, forming the union would be only the first step. Under South Korea’s multiple-union system, the new organization would need to navigate the process for selecting a representative bargaining union before it could exert significant influence over companywide negotiations.
Whether the new union can join the collective bargaining already under way—or will have to wait until next year to negotiate with management—remains uncertain.
