A growing labor dispute between webtoon creators and Kakao Entertainment is raising major questions about creator rights and labor classification in South Korea’s booming digital content industry.
The Webtoon Labor Union, led by Chairperson Ha Shin-ah, revealed that Kakao Entertainment rejected its request for collective bargaining. The request was submitted on April 11, and the company issued its rejection on April 17.
“We requested collective bargaining with Kakao Entertainment on the 11th, but received a rejection notice from the company on the 17th.” (This statement was translated from Korean using machine translation.)
In response, the union condemned Kakao’s decision as “an unfair labor practice” and announced plans to file a relief application with the Labor Relations Commission.
A relief application in South Korea is a formal complaint filed with the Labor Relations Commission when a labor union or worker believes an employer has committed an unfair labor practice, such as refusing to engage in collective bargaining. If accepted, the Commission investigates and may order corrective action, such as requiring the employer to negotiate or cease obstructing union activities.
The crux of the dispute lies in whether webtoon creators should be classified as “workers” under the Labor Union Act.
Source: NoCutNews
