POSCO labor union threatens 48-hour partial strike

The POSCO labor union has issued a deadline of September 9 for management to present a new collective bargaining proposal. If no progress is made, the union plans to initiate a 48-hour partial strike, potentially ending a 58-year period of non-dispute industrial relations.

The union's primary demands include improvements to wages, welfare, manpower shortages, and safety systems. A key point of contention is the establishment of a ‘Self-Sustaining Safety Special Committee’ with practical binding authority, whereas management has proposed maintaining existing safety consultative bodies.

Disputes also persist regarding the financial scale of the union's demands. Management has estimated the cost of the union's proposals at approximately 1.4 trillion won, citing difficult economic conditions such as steel industry trends, exchange rates, and oil prices. The union has criticized this approach, arguing that aggregating diverse demands into a single monetary figure distorts the intent of their specific requests regarding safety and staffing.