POSCO, union reach tentative wage deal with 2.6% base pay increase

POSCO and its union reached a tentative wage agreement for 2026 that would raise base pay by 2.6%. The tentative deal came more than four months after wage negotiations began on June 16.

The proposal also includes a lump-sum payment of 6 million won, a special advancement of three pay steps, and a holiday bonus of 2 million won plus 20% of base pay. The base-pay-linked portion of the holiday bonus would rise to 30% from 2028 onward, and the wage deal requires approval by a majority of POSCO union members in a ratification vote.

The base pay increase was a major point of contention. The union sought 7.1%, while the company initially offered 1.2% conditional on meeting this year's operating profit target before raising its offer to 2.5% in recent talks; the company maintained that it could not meet the union's demands because a steel industry downturn had reduced first-half operating profit by 43% from a year earlier.

The union said the company had demanded sacrifices and concessions even when its performance was strong, and that it could not accept spending hundreds of billions of won on brand fees, rent and other payments to POSCO Holdings. It held two partial strikes last month after talks stalled, marking the first strikes since the company's founding in 1968.

After talks following the partial strikes failed to produce an agreement, the union announced a third strike that would expand in scale without a set end date from the 2nd of next month. Pohang Mayor Park Yong-seon and local organizations, including the Pohang Regional Development Council and the Pohang Chamber of Commerce and Industry, urged a settlement through dialogue and compromise.