POSCO Labor Union

A company-level labor union composed of POSCO workers, cited as a representative case of cooperative labor-management relations and negotiations over wages, welfare, and employment stability.

POSCO Labor Union

Overview

POSCO Labor Union is a company-level labor union composed of workers belonging to POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.). Since its founding in 1988 amid the aftermath of the 1987 Great Workers' Struggle, it has engaged in activities centered on agendas such as wage and collective agreement negotiations, expansion of welfare benefits, employment stability, and industrial safety and health. It is often cited as a model of "dialogue and compromise" in labor-management relations at major Korean corporations, and is known to be linked to an industry-wide federation affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) as its upper-level organization.

Main Content

Founding Background and History

The nationwide Great Workers' Struggle in July 1987 had a significant impact on steel industry workplaces. Demands for organization erupted centering on field workers at steel mills in Pohang and Gwangyang, and this trend led to the formation of an institutionalized union, with POSCO Labor Union launched in 1988. In its early years, the organization was centered on production workers in the field, but as office and technical union members increased, its organizational composition diversified. In the 1990s, wage agreements and collective agreements became regularized, establishing a negotiation structure, and in the 2000s, during POSCO's privatization and transition to a holding company system, consultations were reportedly conducted conditioned on employment stability and guaranteed treatment.

Organizational Structure

The highest decision-making bodies are the general meeting of union members and the delegates' meeting, while the executive body consists of the chairperson, senior vice chairperson, secretary-general, and others. Under it, branches and sub-branches are established by workplace, including the Pohang Steel Works, Gwangyang Steel Works, and Seoul office, to collect opinions at the workplace level. Each branch has subcommittees dealing with practical issues such as safety, welfare, and working environment, and is organically linked with the central executive body to organize negotiation agendas.

Major Activities and Collective Agreements

Core activity is annual wage and collective agreement negotiations. Key issues include basic wage increase rates, performance bonus and incentive payment standards, various allowance systems, and welfare fund operation, and demands for improving in-house welfare systems such as company housing, medical support, children's tuition, and cultural welfare are consistently raised. In addition, strengthening industrial safety and health provisions, improving shift work scheduling, reemployment after retirement age, and treatment of partner-company workers are also dealt with as important agendas. The union also carries out member service projects such as legal and labor counseling for union members, health checkup support, and sports and cultural events.

Characteristics of Labor-Management Relations

POSCO Labor Union is represented by its "no-strike" tradition of concluding negotiations without strikes over a long period. It participated in burden-sharing during the 1998 Asian financial crisis and has maintained a line prioritizing dialogue even amid restructuring and business reorganization. However, this cooperative line has been justified in conjunction with results ensuring that union members' treatment does not lag behind the market and competitors, and internally there is also debate with a hardline struggle line.

Recent Trends

In 2024–2025, as the company's performance has been shaken by a flood of low-priced Chinese steel products and the global steel industry downturn, the union continues to demand wage increases and improved treatment while placing employment stability as its top agenda. In the 2020s, different conflict patterns from the past have appeared, such as approval of strike votes in wage and collective agreement negotiations, drawing attention to the sustainability of cooperative labor-management relations. Regarding the enforcement of the revised Trade Union Act (the so-called "Yellow Envelope Act"), the issue of bargaining responsibility between POSCO as the primary contractor and partner-company workers has emerged as a major issue, and demands for improving safety and treatment at partner companies are also growing. In addition, personnel reassignment following the expansion of new businesses such as secondary battery materials, changes in communication methods suited to an increase in MZ-generation union members, work-life balance, and extension of employment after retirement age are emerging as new agendas.