After 140 Days... POSCO Labor and Management Reach Tentative Wage Agreement on 2.6% Base Pay Increase

Agreement reached after 140 days, ahead of third strike
Union members to vote next week

POSCO labor and management have reached a tentative wage agreement that includes a 2.6% increase in base pay and a one-time payment of 6 million won.

Pohang Steelworks in Nam-gu, Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Yonhap News.

The two sides held main negotiations at POSCO's headquarters in Pohang from 10:30 a.m. on October 30 and reached a tentative agreement late in the afternoon. The agreement came 140 days after negotiations began.

The tentative agreement includes a 2.6% increase in base pay, a one-time payment of 6 million won, a special promotion of three pay steps, a holiday bonus of 2 million won plus 20% of base pay (rising to 30% after 2028), additional allowances for shift workers on holidays, a 20,000-won increase in the residential and maintenance allowances, and improvements to the medical benefits program to include spouses and children.

The POSCO Labor Union began wage negotiations with the company on June 16 and held 30 rounds of working-level and main negotiations, but failed to reach an agreement due to differences of opinion.

In this year's wage negotiations, the union had maintained its demands for a 7.1% increase in base pay, an incentive worth 600% of base pay, 50 shares under the employee stock ownership plan, and a holiday bonus worth 200% of base pay.

The company initially proposed a 1.2% increase in base pay if it met its operating profit target for the year, then gradually raised the proposed increase. In the latest negotiations, it offered a 2.5% increase in base pay and a one-time payment of 5 million won.

As the gap between the two sides remained, the union held a vote among its members in July and approved industrial action, with 92.2% voting in favor. The union staged a partial strike for about 48 hours from September 9 to 11, the first strike in POSCO's history. It also announced plans to launch an indefinite strike on November 2.

The POSCO Labor Union, affiliated with the Federation of Korean Metalworkers under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, will hold a vote among its members next week to ratify the tentative agreement. The wage agreement will be finalized if a majority of members vote in favor.

POSCO said, "Despite the challenging business environment, we prepared measures to adequately improve compensation in recognition of our employees' hard work. The labor union made a responsible decision in the interest of the company's sustainable growth and recovery of its competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.