The Kakao labor union launched a one-day collective action today (June 29) by having members take full-day leave, following a failure to reach an agreement with management regarding the company's performance-based compensation system.

Kakao stated that it is operating a real-time response system to ensure the stable operation of major services, including KakaoTalk, to minimize inconvenience to users.

According to the information and communications technology (ICT) industry, the Kakao union is holding a "Logout Day," where members are taking full-day leave or time off and logging out of internal work systems.

The union explained that the strike has no specific start or end time and is taking place throughout the day.

This is the second industrial action following a four-hour partial strike that took place on June 10.

As with the first strike, this collective action involves five entities: Kakao, Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin, and XL Games.

There are approximately 2,500 union members at Kakao headquarters, and the industry estimates that the total number of participants could reach up to 3,000, including members from the subsidiaries.

The Kakao union stated, "About 2,100 people are participating in the strike," adding, "While some are still applying to participate today, we are not conducting further tallies."

On the other hand, management estimated the number of strike participants at approximately 800.

The union does not plan to hold any offline rallies or issue separate statements today.

Kakao management and the union have been unable to narrow their differences for about two months since collective bargaining negotiations over the performance-based compensation system broke down in May.

The union is demanding performance bonuses worth 10 million won, which is equivalent to about 13 to 14 percent of operating profit, but management maintains that the demand is at a level that would burden the company's management and is difficult to accept.

While there were concerns in the IT industry about the potential impact on service operations since members are halting work for the day, the impact of today's strike on services has been limited.

During the first collective action, about 1,000 people from the headquarters and about 1,500 from the five entities participated, but no service disruptions occurred.

It was assessed that the impact on users was limited at the time because a significant portion of service operation tasks is automated.

In this strike as well, no disruptions occurred in major services such as Kakao or Kakao Pay, and no notable user inconveniences were reported.

Management plans to continue negotiations with the union while maintaining a real-time response system to ensure stable service operations and minimize the impact on customers.

The union also stated that it is continuing negotiations with management.

(Photo: Yonhap News)