NCSoft Pangyo R&D Center. (Photo: Yonhap News)

 

 

[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Seoul, Korea – The wage and collective bargaining agreements for six subsidiaries under Naver have collapsed. In response, the Naver Labor Union has initiated its first official dispute and warned that if there is no progress, they will escalate the strike and engage in long-term protests.



According to a joint statement from the Korea Federation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Naver branch on the 12th, the union declared the breakdown of negotiations and held a rally in front of Naver's office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at 5 p.m. the previous day. Around 600 members from the six Naver subsidiaries participated in the rally.



The subsidiaries that failed to reach an agreement include Green Web Services, Studio Rico, NIT Services (NIT), N-Tech Services (NTS), Incomz, and Companters. Studio Rico reached an agreement on its collective bargaining last year.



The union argued, "All six subsidiaries perform Naver's core tasks but are divided under a subcontracting structure. The primary company, Naver, runs these tasks through subcontracting, reducing costs while offering discriminatory wages and welfare benefits for the same value of labor."



For the remaining five subsidiaries where negotiations collapsed, the union demanded that special incentives be recognized as regular wages, equivalent to those at Naver, and that welfare disparities be addressed. Studio Rico requested that global incentives be recognized as regular wages, and the company should guarantee salary increases similar to those of Naver Webtoon, its parent company.



According to the union, Naver and Naver Webtoon have recently ended their annual stock grants worth 10 million KRW and agreed to include 80% (8 million KRW) of it as part of their regular salary package.



The six subsidiaries have been compensated with special or global incentives that correspond to Naver's stock grants. The payout ratio varies, with Studio Rico receiving 60%, NIT and NTS 30%, and Green Web Services, Incomz, and Companters receiving 20%.



O Se-yoon, the head of the Naver branch, said, "Our demands for improved wages and welfare have been ignored for almost eight months, and the collective bargaining ended in failure. These six subsidiaries are subjected to an unnecessary subcontracting structure, and workers are being discriminated against in their compensation for the same labor."



The union plans to hold a second rally on the 27th of this month at the same location and time. If there is no change in the negotiating stance of Naver and its subsidiaries, they have warned of expanding the strike and engaging in long-term protests.