Kakao Pay's labor and management negotiations on bonus payment methods broke down at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission, raising the number of Kakao affiliates that have secured the right to strike to two. With Kakao headquarters' own mediation also scheduled for December 18 expected to face difficulties, the possibility of the first-ever strike at Kakao's headquarters is rising.
According to the information technology (IT) industry on Tuesday, Kakao Pay's labor and management halted collective bargaining mediation procedures at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission a day earlier. A halt in mediation is a decision made when the labor commission determines that the gap between labor and management positions is too wide to bridge through further mediation. Once mediation is halted, the union secures the right to engage in industrial actions such as work slowdowns or strikes.
Earlier, five entities — Kakao and its affiliates Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin, and XL Games — applied for mediation at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission after collective bargaining negotiations broke down. Labor and management failed to narrow their differences over the scale of bonuses and the structuring of compensation systems. Among them, Kakao Enterprise was the first to halt mediation on December 14.
Some claim that the union's demand for bonuses exceeding 10 percent of operating profit was the main cause of the breakdown, but the union says this is not accurate. "The 10 percent of operating profit was one of several proposals the company put forward and reviewed during the negotiation process," a Kakao union official said. "Among the entities that entered mediation, some are loss-making companies, so there is no reason for all affiliates to commonly demand operating profit-based bonuses." In actual negotiations, opinions reportedly diverged over the bonus calculation method and whether to include Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) in bonuses.
On December 18, Kakao headquarters is scheduled to undergo the Regional Labor Relations Commission mediation procedure. If the mediation at Kakao headquarters also breaks down, observers say the first strike since the company's founding could take place. The Kakao union also applied for mediation at the Regional Labor Relations Commission in 2024 after collective bargaining negotiations broke down, but never actually went on strike. The union will hold a struggle resolution rally at Pangyo Station Plaza on December 20.
