The Kakao labor union is pushing for joint bargaining in protest of the decision to carry out a spin-off separating the artificial intelligence (AI) business from the investment and subsidiary businesses.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Chemical Fiber Food Industry Union Kakao Chapter said on the 21st that it will hold a Kakao community joint bargaining proclamation event and a rally to resolve for a fifth straight day of strikes at KakaoBank at 1 p.m. on the 26th at Pangyo Station Square.
In a statement, the union said, "The company cited enhancing corporate value and improving efficiency in decision-making and capital allocation as reasons for this partitioning, but the cause of the damage to corporate value did not lie only in a complex business structure," adding, "Simply splitting legal entities without assessing repeated management failures and a decision-making structure that avoids accountability cannot bring about fundamental renewal."
It continued, "After the spin-off, if restructuring, sales, mergers, spinoffs, or business transfers occur, how to protect workers' employment and working conditions becomes even more important," and criticized, "In the course of this announcement, most members were not provided with sufficient information about their futures, and there was no prior consultation with the labor union."
The union plans to use this spin-off as an opportunity to push for joint bargaining at the Kakao community level rather than by individual legal entities. It argues that since major investments, business reorganization, and capital allocation—substantive decisions—are made at the group level, labor issues such as employment stability and restructuring must also be discussed with the actual decision-makers.
Seo Seung-uk, head of the Kakao union chapter, said, "Dividing the company in two may be a management decision, but they cannot unilaterally decide the changes to employment and working conditions that result from that decision," adding, "Even if the company is split, they cannot split off responsibility for repeated management failures and for the members."
The union demanded prior consultation on organizational restructuring, sales and spinoffs, transfers within the community, employment stability measures, and fair performance distribution. On the 24th, it plans to hold an online open chat for members to conduct a Q&A on the spin-off and the establishment of the new corporation.
Kakao announced that it will spin off the company into a new corporation, "KakaoAI," centered on KakaoTalk and AI businesses, and a surviving corporation, "KakaoX," for future value investments.