Korean auto conglomerate may face 3 trillion won in bonus payouts
Hyundai Motor Group’s labor union is seeking a performance bonus equivalent to 30 percent of last year’s net profit, which would amount to more than 3 trillion won ($2 billion) after Korea’s leading auto conglomerate posted 10.36 trillion won in net profit in 2025.
Alongside the $3 trillion won demand, the labor union’s proposal, which was finalized last week, also includes a monthly base salary increase of 149,600 won, an increase in bonuses from 750 percent to 800 percent of base pay, job security in relation to artificial intelligence, an extension of the retirement age of up to 65 and additional hiring.
The labor union said the bonuses based on last year’s net profit should be equally distributed to employees at Hyundai Motor’s partner firms.
The hefty demand from the auto labor union came amid other major unions asking for big bonuses at Korea’s leading conglomerates.
Samsung Electronics’ labor union has demanded performance bonuses funded by 15 percent of operating profit with no upper limit on this year’s earnings. As market analysts expect Samsung Electronics to log about 298 trillion won on average, the company may end up spending nearly 45 trillion won on employee bonuses
SK hynix, which reached a labor-management agreement in September last year, decided to allocate 10 percent of operating profit to bonuses. With the chip giant’s operating profit forecast at around 200 trillion won this year, the bonus pool could reach 20 trillion won.
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
