POSCO Withdraws from Minnochoong Metal Workers' Union... 69.9% Approval Rate

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] One of POSCO's multiple labor unions, the POSCO branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU) under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), has decided to withdraw from the Metal Workers' Union.

According to the POSCO branch on the 30th, a vote on changing the organizational form was held from the 28th to the 30th, resulting in 69.93% approval to withdraw from the Metal Workers' Union.

This agenda involves withdrawing from the industrial union, the Metal Workers' Union, and converting into a company union.

In this vote, 143 members, accounting for 57.89% of the total 247 union members, participated.

Among the participants, 100 members (69.93%) voted in favor, and 43 members (30.07%) opposed.

The agenda passes if more than half of all union members participate and two-thirds of the participants approve.

Previously, the POSCO branch held a vote on the same agenda on the 3rd and 4th, receiving more than two-thirds approval.

However, a re-vote was conducted following a supplementary request from the Ministry of Employment and Labor to announce the vote at least seven days prior to the voting day.

Following the approval of the agenda, the POSCO branch of the Metal Workers' Union plans to withdraw from the Metal Workers' Union and convert into a company union without any higher-level organization.

On the 23rd, the POSCO branch issued a statement saying, "The POSCO branch exists to work for POSCO employees and to improve their rights, but the Metal Workers' Union wants the POSCO branch to work for and exist for the Metal Workers' Union."

They added, "The Metal Workers' Union expelled the branch president and senior vice president elected by POSCO employees and disciplined the executive committee and delegates, claiming that they do not work for the Metal Workers' Union but for POSCO employees," and "Although the union can change its organizational form according to relevant laws, they say it is illegal."

POSCO started as Pohang Iron and Steel Company in 1968, and the union was established in the late 1980s.

The POSCO union once had over 18,000 members, but after a bribery scandal involving union executives, many members left, reducing the number to around ten, rendering it largely ineffective.

However, in September 2018, some POSCO employees established a union under the KCTU, and around the same time, the existing union without a higher-level organization was reorganized as the POSCO union affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), resulting in multiple unions existing within POSCO.