Second partial strike ran Wednesday–Monday over 120 hours

Strike expanded from 2 to 4 hot-rolling mills, adding plate-finishing process

Union claims 92% average participation; company says production unaffected

Wage talks and strike activity suspended until Oct. 2 for union election

Posco's Pohang steelworks in Nam-gu, Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Posco's Pohang steelworks in Nam-gu, Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

The Posco union wrapped up its 120-hour second partial strike Monday and entered a roughly two-week truce. Both strike activity and wage negotiations will be suspended from Tuesday through Oct. 2 as the union holds its leadership election.

The Posco union, affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions' metal workers' federation, ended the second partial strike at 7 a.m. Monday — five days after it began at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

The action was significantly broader in both duration and scope than the first partial strike, a 48-hour walkout held Sept. 9–11. It initially targeted two hot-rolling mills — one at the Pohang steelworks and one at the Gwangyang steelworks — but expanded Friday to include Pohang's No. 1 hot-rolling mill, the No. 2 plate-finishing and inspection process, and Gwangyang's No. 3 hot-rolling mill. That brought the total number of hot-rolling mills affected to four — two at each site — and added the plate-product finishing process to the dispute.

The union said average participation in the second partial strike reached 92 percent. Participation at the Pohang site ranged from 91 to 100 percent depending on the shift, while the Gwangyang site recorded 80 to 98 percent.

Management estimated that roughly 100 workers at each of the two sites took part following the expansion. The company said it deployed available personnel and activated emergency response protocols, and that production and shipments were not significantly disrupted.

The strike is now on hold. The union will conduct its 21st executive officer election from Tuesday through Oct. 2. Under guidelines from the union's election commission, both strike activity and wage negotiations with management are suspended during the election period.

That means the wage talks that stalled Tuesday are unlikely to resume anytime soon. The two sides had restarted negotiations that day — 12 days after the previous round broke down and just one day before the second partial strike began — but failed to narrow their differences over the size of a wage increase.

The union is demanding a 7.1 percent base pay raise, a 600 percent incentive bonus, 50 shares of employee stock, and a 200 percent holiday bonus. Management has said it cannot accept the demands as presented, citing a 43.3 percent year-on-year decline in standalone operating profit for the first half of this year. The company estimates that meeting all of the union's demands would add approximately 1.4 trillion won ($1.01 billion) in costs.

The key question is what happens after the election. The union accepted candidate registrations for the new leadership through Friday, will hold a vote on Oct. 2, and will install the new executive team shortly after. The dispute committee will then be reorganized under the new leadership, and the union's wage negotiation strategy is expected to be redrawn. If the incoming leadership pushes harder in wage talks on the strength of member support, an escalated strike cannot be ruled out.

The union said it intends to use the high turnout seen during the strike as leverage in future negotiations. "The strong participation in this partial strike is a clear expression of our members' will and a powerful message to management," the union said.

A Posco official said the company would "work to reach a swift settlement in negotiations based on mutual prosperity between labor and management."


kwater@heraldcorp.com