SK Hynix is the first among the largest memory makers to shift to a profit-sharing model that employees see as fairer amid the artificial intelligence boom. Workers at rival Samsung Electronics quickly achieved similar improvements in pay conditions under the threat of a strike, and now workers at Taiwan’s Micron Technology are preparing to follow their lead.
Image source: Micron Technology
In addition, in South Korea, the “strike epidemic” has gone far beyond the semiconductor industry and covered other economic sectors. Now, it is reported business timesMicron Technology’s largest employee union in Taiwan is pushing the company’s local office to negotiate similar wage adjustments. The review of labor disputes is planned to be conducted in two phases: the end of August and mid-September. If it cannot bring satisfactory results to the union, Micron’s Taiwanese companies will go on strike in September.
According to reports, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix allocate 10.5% and 10% of profits respectively to pay bonuses to employees. Taiwanese law limits bonuses to approximately five months’ salary, but in practice it does not exceed 2.6 months’ salary. Efforts to raise wages have attracted about 10,000 Micron employees in Taiwan to join the union. About 80% of both unions support the idea of a strike.
Meanwhile, Korean workers at memory manufacturing companies won’t stop there. SK hynix’s labor collective representative on Tuesday rejected the employer’s proposal to increase basic wages by 6.3% and revise the bonus system. The company already distributes up to 10% of annual operating profits to employees, but some are unhappy with plans to pay bonuses of up to 60% in company stock. The situation could trigger new strikes.
In the case of Samsung, employees not involved in the production of memory chips are increasingly voicing their dissatisfaction as reforms are being made that do not take their interests into account. As a result, there was a hundred-fold disparity in the amount of bonuses paid to employees within the company.
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