It was belatedly confirmed that Naver joined the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF).
According to the business community on the 12th, Naver became an official member of KEF in August last year. A Naver official said, "With artificial intelligence (AI), inter-industry consolidation and convergence are accelerating," and noted, "We joined KEF last year to closely converge with various corporations and expand cross-corporate cooperation."
Given that KEF is an employers' group that focuses on managing member companies' labor relations, some say Naver joined KEF out of concern over uncertainty in labor-management relations. When Naver joined KEF in August last year, the so-called "yellow envelope law" (revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act) had passed the National Assembly's plenary session, and uncertainty in corporations' labor-management relations was expected to grow. The "yellow envelope law" greatly expands the scope of the principal employer's responsibility for subcontracted and affiliate workers, increasing the burden on Naver, which has numerous affiliates.
In fact, the Naver union has recently been calling for integrated bargaining that covers affiliates. On Se-yoon Oh, Chairperson of the Korean Chemical, Textile & Food Workers' Union (KCTFU) Information Technology (IT) Committee and head of the Naver chapter, held a forum titled "Seeking an integrated bargaining structure for the IT sector" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, and argued that Naver effectively controls the working conditions of its affiliates. Oh said, "Core management functions such as human resources, public relations, accounting, and finance are all concentrated at headquarters, so subsidiaries are effectively nothing more than one department of the headquarters," and demanded integrated bargaining for affiliates.
Back in February last year, Naver also joined The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI). Explaining why it joined FKI at the time, Naver said, "AI is changing industry trends, and with the launch of the second Donald Trump administration, there is a need for Korea's business leaders to move together."