KakaoBank union to launch 5-day general strike from Aug. 31

KakaoBank's labor union announced Thursday it will launch a full general strike spanning five business days from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4 — the first consecutive strike action at a domestic internet-only bank.

The KakaoBank chapter of the National Chemical Textile Food Industry Workers' Union said all 1,000 of its members would take part in the walkout. The figure represents a majority of the bank's 1,601 employees.

The union and management have been locked in a wage and collective bargaining dispute, unable to reach agreement on pay raise rates and the criteria for performance bonuses.

The industrial action has escalated in stages. The union held its first-ever general strike on July 31 — though members used annual leave and days off in what was dubbed a "logout day" rather than a formal walkout. On Aug. 12, workers began a work-to-rule campaign centered on strict adherence to the 40-hour workweek and refusal of overtime, night and holiday shifts. On Aug. 14, a second full-day strike coincided with the company's internal technology conference, "Code Runner." With negotiations still stalled, the union has now raised the stakes with a five-consecutive-business-day strike.

The prolonged action is expected to have a broader impact than the two previous strikes. The union warned that a five-day staffing shortage could lead to delays in customer inquiries and complaint handling, a backlog in loan reviews and manual processing tasks, slowdowns in service operations and updates, delays in internal approvals and reviews, and a shortage of personnel to respond to and recover from system outages.

Meanwhile, KakaoBank posted a net profit for the period of 328 billion won ($234 million) in the first half of this year, a record high for any half-year period and a 24.4 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.