POSCO's labor union has launched a second partial strike lasting 120 hours after wage negotiations with management broke down.
The POSCO Labor Union, affiliated with the Federation of Korean Metal Workers' Trade Unions under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, began the 120-hour partial strike at 7 a.m. on the 16th, according to industry sources. The walkout involves the No. 2 hot rolling mill at the Pohang works and the No. 4 hot rolling mill at the Gwangyang works. Workers who operate and maintain the reheating furnaces were excluded from the strike.
Labor and management held additional talks at the company's Pohang headquarters from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the 15th, attended by POSCO President Lee Hee-keun, but failed to narrow their differences. The union is demanding a 7.1% increase in base pay, incentive payments equal to 600% of monthly wages, 50 shares under an employee stock ownership plan and holiday bonuses equal to 200% of monthly wages. Management has offered a 2% increase in base pay, a performance incentive of 3.5 million won, 500,000 won in local gift certificates and a wider range of increases in long-service awards.
According to management, the union's demands amount to about 1.4 trillion won, roughly twice the level of last year and equivalent to about 80% of the 1.8 trillion won in operating profit the company posted last year. Management says it cannot accept such demands when operating profit in the first half of this year fell 43% from a year earlier.
The union earlier staged a 48-hour walkout from the 9th to the 11th targeting the 3ZRM line at the No. 2 electrical steel sheet plant in Pohang and the pickling plant in Gwangyang, the first partial strike on production lines in the company's 58-year history. This time the union extended the duration by 2.5 times and expanded the action to major hot rolling mills. Industrial action could escalate further if talks make no progress.
Management said, however, that operations face no immediate disruption. "We will keep those facilities running normally by drawing on available personnel and ensure there is no disruption to operations or safety," a company official said. "We will build an emergency response system so that domestic industries that rely on our products are not affected under any circumstances, and we will give top priority to producing and shipping materials for domestic industries and urgently needed products."
