The Kakao labor union has demanded that headquarters scrap its spin-off plan and start joint bargaining that covers its affiliates. The KakaoBank union will launch a full strike for five days starting on the 31st after wage and performance compensation talks broke down.
The Kakao chapter of the National Chemical Fiber Food Industry Labor Union held a resolution rally and declared joint bargaining on the 26th at Pangyo Station Square in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. The Kakao union criticized Kakao for trying to avoid responsibility by splitting the company again without an assessment of past management failures or concrete remedies.
Kakao is pushing a spin-off to split the company into KakaoAI and KakaoX. The Kakao union argued that even if the corporations are separated, workers' rights and the bargaining structure must not be split, and said a joint bargaining framework encompassing all of Kakao is needed. As the first task for joint bargaining, it set blocking the spin-off. The union said it will inform shareholders and the public of the problems with the split and work to defeat the related agenda item at the shareholders meeting.
KakaoBank members under the Kakao union have negotiated with management since January over wages and performance compensation. The union said the company's proposal has not substantively changed despite mediation by the Labor Relations Commission, two one-day strikes, and a work-to-rule action. Labor and management discussed an annual salary increase in the 5%–6% range but failed to reach agreement.
The Kakao union said management merely tweaked some items and numbers from its previous proposal and resubmitted it. It also demanded disclosure of related standards, saying the company stresses expense burdens for employee labor costs while applying lenient standards to executives' use of company funds. In response, the KakaoBank union plans to launch a five-day general strike from the 31st through Aug. 4.
KakaoBank CEO Yun Ho-young's 8.1 billion won in compensation for the first half of this year also became a point of contention. KakaoBank said 7.29 billion won of that was profit from exercising stock options granted in the past and constitutes long-term performance compensation. The union estimated that 400–500 members from Kakao affiliates attended the event.