The POSCO Labor Union has declared that wage negotiations with management have broken down and warned of an indefinite strike beginning at 7 p.m. on November 2, followed by a phased expansion of its labor action.

According to Chosunbiz and Maeil Business (MK), the two sides met in person on October 23 — company president Heegeun Lee and union chairman Kim Seong-ho — and continued working-level negotiations afterward, but failed to reach a tentative agreement.

The union said the agreement fell through because management did not change its position during the negotiations.

This is not a routine negotiating standoff.

MK reports the union staged the first partial strike in POSCO's 58-year history last month — a 48-hour walkout from the 9th to the 11th involving 120 members at Pohang Steelworks' No. 2 Electrical Steel Sheet Plant and the pickling plant at Gwangyang — then a second, 120-hour partial strike from the 16th to the 21st that expanded to hot-rolling and plate mills at both works.

An indefinite strike marks a further escalation for a company long known for labor-management cooperation.

The demands on the table remain far apart. Both Chosunbiz and MK report the union is seeking a 7.1% increase in base pay, a 600% incentive, 50 shares under the employee stock ownership plan, and a 200% holiday bonus.

The company's most recent proposal offered a 2.5% base pay increase, a one-time payment of 5 million won, and a holiday bonus of 1 million won plus an additional 10% — rising to 15% after 2028. That wide spread on wages and incentives is what stalled the October 23 session.

The union is preparing for a prolonged dispute rather than a symbolic one. According to Chosunbiz, it is pursuing a plan to collect a special fee from members who do not participate in the strike to secure a dispute compensation fund for the indefinite action.

MK adds that before the strike gets underway in earnest, the union will gradually intensify measures starting on the 26th, including limiting some members' responses to unexpected work after their shifts — pressure tactics designed to widen the disruption incrementally.

MK reports management will immediately activate an emergency operations response system if formal dispute procedures begin, adjusting production plans to prevent any impact on client companies or domestic demand-driven industries.

The burden on production sites will still grow depending on how many workers participate, which processes are affected, and how long the stoppage lasts. The union's earlier partial strikes already touched electrical steel, hot-rolling and plate mills — core product lines for downstream customers.

A POSCO representative said that despite the union's declaration of breakdown, the company will do its utmost to bring wage talks to a swift conclusion through dialogue, based on the principles of labor-management cooperation.

The standoff lands amid a broader surge of industrial action: autoevolution reports Volkswagen faces a possible January 2027 strike in Germany after wage talks collapsed, and the Boston Herald reports Encore Boston Harbor workers have now passed 50 days on strike — a reminder that 2026's cost pressures are straining labor relations across industries worldwide.