The Naver Labor Union held a rally in the lobby of its headquarters, urging the company to accept demands for unified negotiations covering all 15 affiliates.
On October 21, around 200 members of the Naver branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions gathered at the first-floor lobby of Naver's headquarters in Bundang, Seongnam.
O Se-yoon, head of the Naver branch, stated, "What we desire is not the integration of negotiation results but the integration of the negotiation structure as one employer, Naver. The core of unified negotiations is to place responsibility where authority lies."
The union submitted a request for unified negotiations encompassing Naver's headquarters and its 15 affiliates in August. However, the company maintains that the headquarters does not have the authority to effectively control or determine the working conditions of its affiliate companies.
The union criticized the company for dividing responsibilities by corporation during negotiations, contrary to its usual emphasis on the slogan 'Team Naver.' They argue that individual negotiations, which are repeatedly conducted for each affiliate, should be halted, and common issues where the headquarters has actual decision-making power should be addressed in unified negotiations.
During the rally, the union symbolically tore a large banner containing the company's written response stating that the headquarters does not have the authority to effectively control or determine the working conditions of its affiliates.
Choi Chang-hoon, a negotiator from Naver Cloud, pointed out, "Before the headquarters reaches an agreement, we cannot even present our demands, but once an agreement is reached, all affiliates finalize agreements with the same wording within a month, creating a bizarre inefficiency." He added, "Common issues, such as labor costs and performance compensation criteria, which the parent company actually decides, should be addressed in basic negotiations, while specific circumstances of each affiliate should be handled in supplementary negotiations."
The union announced that it submitted approximately 2,000 pages of documentation to the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission to prove the headquarters' actual control, including details on ownership structure, revenue dependency, personnel transfers, and the decision-making process for working conditions.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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