Shareholder Group Files Complaints Over Samsung Electronics, SK hynix Wage Deals

According to Yonhap, a minority shareholder rights group filed complaints Wednesday against South Korean Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon and the chief executives of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix over recent wage agreements that divert part of operating profit to employee performance bonuses. The Korea Shareholders Movement Headquarters said performance bonuses should not have been included in collective bargaining and accused Kim of abuse of power, obstruction of rights and coercion for helping resolve Samsung's prolonged wage dispute on May 20 through the government's labor dispute mediation process. It also filed a separate complaint with the National Office of Investigation against Samsung Electronics CEOs Jeon Young-hyun and Roh Tae-moon and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung on breach-of-trust allegations, saying the companies created a mechanism to siphon off corporate assets and that allocating a set share of pre-tax operating profit to bonuses is illegal without shareholder approval. Under the May agreement, Samsung will provide a special semiconductor performance bonus equal to 10.5% of business performance earnings, while SK hynix allocates 10% of semiconductor division operating profit to employee bonuses.