Union members of POSCO Group’s 5 associates pose on the Federation of Korean Commerce Unions headquarters in Seoul on this March 2023 photograph. Courtesy of Federation of Korean Metalworkers’ Commerce Unions
By Park Jae-hyuk
POSCO Group’s labor and administration are at odds because the nation’s fifth-largest enterprise group prepares to restructure unprofitable and non-core property to safe money for shareholder returns and investments in its core companies.
On Tuesday, a bunch of unionized employees at POSCO Group’s 5 associates issued a press release expressing their issues over the administration’s plan to reform 120 non-core property.
This got here a day after POSCO Future M, the group’s battery supplies unit, determined to promote its 51 p.c stake in P&O Chemical to OCI, a polysilicon maker that owns the remaining 49 p.c of the three way partnership.
“The restructuring plan introduced on July 15 has been inflicting issues over workforce discount and job insecurity following the introduction of synthetic intelligence and automation applied sciences,” stated the unions of POSCO, POSCO DX, SNNC, POSCO M-Tech and POSCO Mobility Answer, that are below the Federation of Korean Commerce Unions.
“Though we perceive the necessity to concentrate on core companies and enhance profitability, there’s the chance of low morale and anxiousness deteriorating productiveness.”
Final month, POSCO Group introduced that it might restructure its 120 unprofitable and non-core property, which aren’t essential for the group’s enterprise methods.
The enterprise group stated at the moment that it might safe 2.6 trillion gained ($2 billion) in money by 2026 for shareholder returns and investments in its core companies.
The plan is believed to primarily allow the group’s steelmaking unit to lift substantial funds to implement hydrogen discount ironmaking expertise throughout all of its furnaces by 2050, aiming for carbon neutrality.
The unions emphasised that POSCO Group’s employees have at all times gone all out to rescue their firm from crises, mentioning the restoration of the steelmaker’s principal metal mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, after Hurricane Hinnamnor flooded the manufacturing unit in 2022.
“The voices of employees should be heard through the ongoing restructuring,” the unions stated.
They significantly proposed the institution of a job power for labor participation, a clear disclosure of data and the unbiased administration of every affiliate.
“Labor and administration ought to work collectively for POSCO Group to change into the main firm within the international market,” the unions stated.
