Kakao Labor Union to Hold Rally in Pangyo on June 10, Preparing for General Strike

"We Will Not Close the Door to Dialogue... Preparing for a Strike in June"

The Kakao Labor Union will hold a rally on June 10 and begin full-scale collective action.

According to the IT industry on May 28, the Kakao Labor Union plans to hold a rally on the morning of June 10 in the vicinity of Pangyo Station, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

Members of the National Chemical, Fiber, and Food Industry Workers' Union Kakao Branch (Kakao Union) hold signs at the '2026 Collective Bargaining Victory Rally' held on the 20th at Pangyo Station Plaza in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News

The previous day, during the second mediation meeting regarding the 2026 wage negotiations held at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission, Kakao management and the union failed to narrow their differences, resulting in the suspension of mediation. As a result, the union at the headquarters has gained the right to strike, opening up the possibility of the first strike since Kakao's founding.

The Kakao Branch of the National Chemical, Textile, and Food Industry Labor Union (Kakao Labor Union) issued a statement on the same day, saying, "Even after the mediation was suspended, the union will not completely close the door to dialogue with management." However, they also stated, "We can no longer solve the problem by simply waiting and being patient, so together with our members, we will begin full-scale preparations for a strike in June."

The union pointed out that the decision to halt mediation was the result of broken trust between the company and its employees. The union argued, "During the negotiations, the company consistently took a passive approach rather than making responsible decisions. The company unilaterally paid out performance bonuses during the negotiations, thereby undermining trust in the process, and disrupted the continuity of dialogue by repeatedly changing negotiation representatives and presenting insufficient revised proposals."

In addition, referring to the previous day's news about the resignation of Hong Min-taek, Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Kakao, the union said, "CPO Hong triggered a labor inspection due to both the negative controversy surrounding the KakaoTalk update and labor-management relations, but disappeared as if nothing had happened. The total compensation received by management figures embroiled in controversies up to now has amounted to hundreds of billions of won."

The union plans to announce the detailed schedule for the strike at a later date.

A Kakao representative stated, "Even after the mediation process, the company will keep communication channels open with the union and strive to reach an agreement."

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