POSCO labor and management fail to reach agreement in main talks after a month; company offers 2.2% base-pay increase

[Financial News] POSCO labor and management resumed main wage talks after about a month but failed to reach a tentative agreement. The company raised its proposed base-pay increase from 2.0% to 2.2% and offered a one-time payment of 4.5 million won, among other things, but the two sides failed to narrow their differences. They plan to continue talks, but no specific schedule has been set.
According to POSCO, the two sides held their ninth round of main talks at the company's headquarters in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on the 14th to negotiate wages for this year, but failed to reach an agreement. The talks were the first main negotiations in about a month, following the suspension of wage negotiations on the 15th of last month.
Before these main talks, labor and management held three rounds of working-level negotiations on the 7th and 8th and on the 13th of this month to narrow their differences.
POSCO presented the union with a 2.2% base-pay increase; a one-time payment of 4.5 million won, including 500,000 won in local love gift certificates; an additional 400,000 won in welfare points; and a special adjustment component to accelerate K-Steel innovation.
The company's previous offer included a 2.0% base-pay increase, an incentive payment of 3.5 million won and 500,000 won in local love gift certificates. Although the company improved some elements of its compensation offer, including the base-pay increase and one-time payment, in the main talks resumed after about a month, the two sides did not reach a tentative agreement.
The union has been seeking a 7.1% base-pay increase, incentive pay equivalent to 600%, 50 shares in the employee stock ownership plan and holiday bonuses equivalent to 200%, among other things. A union official was reported to have said that there had been no major change to the union's previous proposal in the talks that day.
Labor and management agreed to resume negotiations, but have yet to set a date for the next round.
Earlier, the POSCO Labor Union, part of the Federation of Korean Metalworkers' Trade Unions (FKMTU), which is affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), staged two partial strikes last month during wage negotiations. The union held its first partial strike for 48 hours starting on the 9th of last month, then launched a second partial strike, scheduled to last 120 hours, on the 16th.
The possibility of further labor action remains. Before the main talks resumed, the union said it could prepare for a third partial strike if the company's offer showed no progress. However, no dates for further strikes or targeted production processes have been determined so far.
The government is also closely monitoring the negotiations between labor and management. At a parliamentary audit the previous day before the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon said the local labor office with jurisdiction had visited the site 13 times and held meetings to provide guidance regarding the POSCO labor dispute. He said the government would provide active guidance to help ensure the negotiations proceed smoothly.
POSCO maintains that, given business conditions including slowing global steel demand and oversupply and aggressive low-price competition from China, the offer it made that day is the maximum the company can afford. A POSCO official said, “We will do our utmost to reach a reasonable agreement, regardless of the format, whether through working-level or main talks.”

[email protected] Kim Mi-hee Reporter