Talks between POSCO's management and union failed to find common ground even at the first main bargaining session since the tentative agreement was voted down. The union announced a rally in Seoul on the 17th. It has also begun preparing for an indefinite strike. This contrasts with the many industrial sites that have wrapped up this year's wage and collective bargaining.
According to the POSCO Labor Union of the Metal Workers' Federation under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the two sides held main bargaining on the morning of the 11th. Management reconfirmed the offer it had made before the tentative agreement as its final offer. It also made clear that there would be no additional offer on the grounds of the rejection. The union halted the talks and left 22 minutes after the session began.
The two sides reached a tentative agreement on the 30th of last month. Its key terms were a 2.6% base pay increase, a lump-sum payment of 6 million won and a special promotion of three pay grades. But in a vote of union members on the 7th, 4,744 votes (51.69%) against outweighed 4,433 votes (48.31%) in favor. The margin was 311 votes.
The gap between the union's initial demands and the agreement is cited as the background for the rejection. The union had originally demanded a 7.1% base pay increase, a 600% incentive bonus, 50 employee stock ownership shares and a 200% holiday bonus. In September, it even went on strike for the first time since the company's founding in 1968. When the agreement fell short of that level, discontent arose among some members.
The burden has grown on both sides. The company has made clear that there is no additional offer. But the longer the talks drag on, the harder it will be to avoid pressure to expand compensation. With a recovery in steel profitability urgently needed, prolonged conflict would inevitably disrupt production sites.
The union leadership has also been left with homework. It must produce a proposal that management can accept while also satisfying members' demands. This year, first agreements also failed to clear the member vote threshold at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, SK hynix and Hyundai Wia.
The union is stepping up pressure. Since the 10th, it has been refusing substitute work, overtime and holiday work, unexpected tasks and responses to emergency service calls at some departments of the Pohang and Gwangyang steelworks. The dispute countermeasures committee will hold a rally in front of POSCO Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 17th. It has also begun discussing the collection of a special union levy to secure funds for an indefinite strike.
As the autumn struggle spreads into a winter struggle, uncertainty is growing. The company said, "We will continue to make efforts so that a consensus between labor and management can be formed on the tentative agreement, which was reached taking into account both business conditions and employees' hard work."