POSCO moves forward to become a 100-year company with the partner companies through win-win development

2021-07-20

Jul. 15, 2021 - POSCO (CEO Jeong-woo Choi) will strengthen its competitive power in the steel industry through win-win development with the partner companies and resolve the challenges of our times, such as narrowing the gap between large and small companies.

POSCO held a ‘Joint Declaration Ceremony of Win-Win Development between POSCO and Partner Company’ at the POSCO Head Office in Pohang with the ‘Win-Win Council of the Partner Companies,’ consisting of labor-management representatives of POSCO’s partners in Pohang and Gwangyang on the 24th. Sung-hyun Moon, the chairperson of the Economic, Social, and Labor Council (ESLC), Cheol-woo Lee, the governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Kang-deok Lee, the mayor of Pohang City, Jung-jae Kim, the member of the National Assembly, Byung-wook Kim, the member of the National Assembly, Yun-tae Kim, the director of Daegu Regional Employment and Labor Administration, the labor-management representative of POSCO’s partner company, Kyoung-seok Kim, POSCO trade union committee, and Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO attended the event.

On that day, POSCO and the ‘Win-Win Council of Partner Company’ announced the ‘POSCO-Partner Company Joint Declaration on Win-Win Development.’ The two sides agreed to strengthen global business competitive power along with win-win development of large and small companies through autonomous social consensus and spread a positive impact throughout the industry by establishing an exemplary model that leads the growth and development of the local industrial ecosystem.

Under the social consensus called the ‘Joint Declaration of Win-Win Development’, POSCO decided to do its best to create safe working conditions for its partners’ employees, bridge the wage gap, and improve welfare benefits, and help its partners grow into small but strong companies. In addition, more than 90 regional partners agreed to strengthen their technological competitive power as shared growth partners with the respect for joint declaration and actively participate in win-win development and a safe working environment based on stable labor-management relations.

Moon, chairman of the Economic, Social, and Labor Council (ESLC) said in a greeting, “This joint declaration is an exemplary case of social dialogue for the realization of inclusive growth and is worth using in the industry as a model for dialogue and communication between large and small companies.”

Yoo-young Kim, co-chairman of the Gwangyang Win-Win Council of Partner Company said, “Each cooperative employee will make every effort to maintain the most competitive steel company status based on the improvement of the working conditions for partner companies through this declaration ceremony.” “We are always proud to be working with POSCO, a global company, and we will help POSCO to maintain their highest competitive power and the partner companies will also grow into hidden champions,” said Heon-duk Kim, co-chairman of the Pohang Win-Win Council of Partner Company.

In addition, Kyoung-seok Kim, the POSCO trade union committee said, “Let’s create a better workplace by finding ways for POSCO and its partner companies to be win-win for each other under a safe working environment through conversations.”

POSCO CEO Choi said, “POSCO was able to make it by dedications and initiatives of partner companies. Let’s work together to realize the basic value of win-win development and become a strong partner for each other for a new leap forward as a 100-year company.”

As an action plan under the ‘Joint Declaration of Win-Win Development between POSCO and Partner Company,’ partners will establish a ‘Joint Labor Welfare Fund’ in Pohang and Gwangyang respectively within this year, and POSCO will contribute financial resources. The fund will be used to improve welfare benefits, starting with the establishment of a children’s scholarship system that employees of partner companies are most interested in. About 16,000 employees of partner companies will benefit from this joint declaration.

Meanwhile, five group companies, including POSCO, signed a three-year business agreement in 2018 with 777.1 billion won worth of support over the past three years to bridge the wage gap between large and small companies. In addition, POSCO has expanded recreational facilities to share with its partner companies, and also operating a ‘Joint Workplace Daycare Center’ that can be used with the children of employees of partner companies in Pohang and Gwangyang. In particular, POSCO has newly established and is currently operating an organization dedicated to supporting the safety operations of its partner companies to create a safe working environment for partner companies’ employees earlier this year.