▲ Kakao's office building, Pangyo Agit, in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province
The Kakao labor union has launched the first partial strike in the company's history.
The Kakao branch of the Korean Chemical, Textile & Food Workers' Union began its partial strike at 10:00 a.m. today (June 10).
The strike is scheduled to last for four hours, excluding lunch, until 3:00 p.m.
Kakao union members are planning to hold a rally near Pangyo Agit, the company's office building in Seongnam, and march through the surrounding area.
A representative from the Kakao union stated, "We are currently assessing the number of participants in the strike."
The five corporate entities participating in today's partial strike are Kakao headquarters, Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin, and XL Games.
These entities secured the right to strike after wage and collective bargaining negotiations broke down and mediation by the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission was suspended. The strike was subsequently approved through a vote by union members.
The conflict between Kakao's labor and management is primarily driven by disagreements over the performance-based compensation structure.
While the union at Kakao headquarters is demanding performance bonuses of 10 million won per person, the two sides remain at odds over whether to include 5 million won worth of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) as part of that compensation.
However, it is expected that this strike will not significantly disrupt the operation of major services such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay.
Kakao stated, "As most service operation tasks are automated, we anticipate that the impact of this collective action on actual service operations will be limited."
The company added, "We have activated a real-time response system to ensure stable service operation and minimize any impact on customers."
Earlier, the Ministry of Science and ICT also inspected emergency response systems with Kakao in preparation for today's strike.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.