Kakao Labor and Management Face a Crucial Day Today... Decisive Moment for First General Strike

Second Mediation Meeting Scheduled for 3 p.m.
If Talks Fail, First General Strike in IT Platform Industry Likely

The management and labor union of Kakao, which have been in conflict over the performance-based compensation structure and related issues, will meet at the negotiation table on May 27. As the Kakao labor union is already prepared to launch a strike, this round of negotiations is expected to be a critical turning point in determining whether a strike will take place.

According to the IT industry on May 27, Kakao's management and labor union will hold their second mediation session at 3 p.m. at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. After the first mediation session at the same commission on May 18, both sides agreed to postpone the mediation deadline. As the first session involved a "marathon negotiation" that lasted until 10 p.m., it is highly likely that the outcome of this second mediation will also be announced late in the day. If the two sides fail to reach an agreement during this second mediation session, the union will proceed with the process of launching a strike.

Members of the Kakao Branch of the National Chemical Fiber Food Industry Labor Union (Kakao Labor Union) are shouting slogans at the "2026 Wage and Collective Bargaining Victory Rally" held on the 20th at the Pangyo Station square in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News

Previously, the Kakao Branch of the National Chemical Fiber Food Industry Labor Union (Kakao Labor Union) prepared for the first general strike in the company's history by conducting a strike vote in advance. The union announced at a rally held on May 20 at Pangyo Station square in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, that the strike authorization vote among union members at five affiliates—Kakao, Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin, and XL Games—had passed with approval across all entities.

The main conflict between Kakao's management and the labor union centers on the performance-based compensation system and the scale of payments. The union claims that while Kakao achieved record-high earnings last year and top management received sizable performance bonuses, employees were presented with disproportionately lower bonuses. Additional sources of conflict cited by the union include the company's unilateral decision-making process, excessive working hours, insufficient response to workplace harassment allegations, and pressure on employees to consent to digital forensics investigations.

Even if a strike occurs, KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay services will continue... Possibility of labor-management agreement remains

Kakao Pangyo Ajit, Seongnam, Gyeonggi. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Even if the Kakao labor union actually goes on strike, the likelihood of services such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay being disrupted is low. Due to the nature of IT platform services, which are intangible, they can be operated with a minimal workforce. Industry insiders point out that essential tasks, such as server maintenance for stable service, are handled by automated systems, critical staff, and non-union employees, so the impact on services like KakaoTalk or Kakao Pay is expected to be limited.

However, if the strike is prolonged, the development and launch schedule of AI agent-related services, which Kakao has identified as future growth engines, could be affected. This is because a strike could result in key development personnel leaving, which would delay service development timelines. Since this would be the first large-scale strike in the IT platform industry, it would inevitably impact Kakao's external credibility as well.

There also remains the possibility that management and labor could reach a dramatic agreement. Previously, Samsung Electronics' management and labor union were unable to narrow their differences during the post-mediation process at the Central Labor Relations Commission, but managed to produce an agreement the day before a general strike following the mediation of Minister of Employment and Labor Younghoon Kim. The Kakao labor union also failed to reach an agreement in the 2024 collective bargaining negotiations and applied for mediation at the regional labor commission, but later reached a tentative agreement on wage and collective bargaining—including restoring one day of remote work per week—and did not actually proceed with a strike.

Meanwhile, the union is also escalating its response, demanding that Kakao's management come up with a solution regarding XL Games' voluntary retirement program. In a statement issued the previous day, the union warned that "if XL Games, a subsidiary of Kakao Games, proceeds with forced restructuring measures such as layoffs in addition to the voluntary retirement program, the labor union will respond with all available measures, including strike action."

The union also pointed out that, despite an existing labor-management win-win agreement, XL Games is unilaterally pushing forward with restructuring, and demanded that "Kakao should not evade responsibility and must come up with a responsible, group-level countermeasure."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.