Kakao's union will proceed as planned with a June 29 "Logout Day." It said talks with management over the performance bonus compensation system have not reached a level where agreement is possible.

"Logout Day" is carried out by members using a full day of annual leave or a full day off to stop work for a day and log out of internal work systems. Unlike the half-day strike on June 10, members will be out for the entire day.

The action targets five entities: Kakao, Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin and XL Games, the same as in the first strike. Kakao headquarters has about 2,500 union members, and the industry expects up to 3,000 people could be covered when members at affiliates are included. The number of participants will be confirmed on the day. There will be no separate offline rally or statement that day.

The key issue in the labor-management conflict is the performance bonus compensation system. The union is demanding a performance bonus worth 10 million won, about 13 to 14 percent of operating profit, but management maintains that it is difficult to accept because it would be a burden on operations. The two sides have failed to find common ground for two months since collective bargaining talks broke down in May.

With this Logout Day strengthened in size and intensity compared with the first strike, the IT industry is watching for its impact on service operations. No service disruption occurred during the first strike, even though about 1,000 people at headquarters and about 1,500 across the five entities participated. That was because much of service operation was automated. Still, the expected increase in participation and the members' complete withdrawal from internal systems could affect responses in an emergency, an outlook has emerged.

Kakao said it is operating a real-time response system to ensure stable service operations and minimise customer impact. It said it plans to continue talks and discussions with the union to reach an agreement quickly.

The union plans to decide on additional responses after this Logout Day by considering the state of negotiations and other factors.