Kakao Stages First Partial Strike in Company History Over Performance Bonus Dispute

[Anchor]

The labor union at Kakao has launched the first partial strike in the company's history. The action involves not only the Kakao headquarters but also four of its affiliates, including Kakao Pay. However, major services such as KakaoTalk are not expected to face disruptions.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

The Kakao labor union began its partial strike at 10:00 a.m. today (June 10).

The strike is scheduled for four hours, excluding lunch, until 3:00 p.m.

This marks the first strike since the company's founding, with a joint walkout involving five entities: the Kakao headquarters and four affiliates, including Kakao Pay.

The union is scheduled to hold a rally near the Kakao office building in Seongnam starting at 11:30 a.m. and march through the surrounding area.

The primary cause of the conflict between labor and management is the performance bonus structure.

The union is demanding performance bonuses at the level of 10 million won per person. However, the two sides remain at odds over whether to include the existing restricted stock units (RSU) worth approximately 5 million won in that figure.

After failing to narrow their differences, the two sides requested mediation from the Regional Labor Relations Commission, but the mediation process was suspended on May 27, leading to the strike.

There are not expected to be any major disruptions to key services such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay, which had been a concern.

Kakao stated that the impact would be limited, as most services are automated and the company is operating a real-time response system to ensure stable service operations and minimize the impact on customers.

Previously, the government also inspected Kakao's emergency response systems in preparation for the union's strike.

As labor and management have yet to find common ground on the scale of performance bonuses, the possibility of a full-scale strike remains following today's partial walkout.

(Video Editing: Park Ji-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.