POSCO's union staged the steelmaker's first-ever 120-hour partial strike, ending Sept. 21, and negotiators at POSCO plus HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean return to the table Tuesday after the Chuseok holiday with wage deals unresolved. The disputes carry direct freight implications: all three shipbuilders carry multi-year order backlogs, and any extended walkouts at the yards or in steel supply chains could push vessel delivery dates and tighten steel availability for new hulls.

What does POSCO's union want?

POSCO's union is pressing for:

• 7.1% base pay rise
• Bonuses equal to 600% of base pay
• 50 shares under an employee stock ownership plan
• 200% holiday bonus

Management has countered with a 2% base pay rise, a 3.5 million won ($2,600) bonus, and 500,000 won in local vouchers.

POSCO estimates fulfilling the union package would require roughly 1.4 trillion won in extra funds — approximately equal to the brokerage consensus for the company's full-year operating profit. The steelmaker posted 270 billion won in operating profit for Q2, down 46.6% year-on-year, sharpening the dispute over how to split a softer earnings picture.

About 90% of POSCO union members backed strike action in an earlier ballot. The union elected new leadership on Oct. 2 and resumes negotiations from that base.

Where do the shipbuilders stand?

At HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, wage talks broke down on Sept. 18 after 21 rounds since June. The union seeks a 149,600 won monthly base pay increase, a 100% rise in bonuses, and a 30% share of operating profit. Management has offered a 110,000 won monthly increase — including 47,000 won in seniority increments — plus incentive pay of 200% with an extra 10 million won and 500,000 won in vouchers.

HD Hyundai's union has already moved from four-hour stoppages to seven-hour walkouts between Sept. 16 and 18 and has warned it could step up labor action after the holiday.

At Hanwha Ocean, the union has staged repeated partial and full strikes since late August and halted all four heavy-duty Goliath cranes at the Geoje shipyard in South Gyeongsang Province for 24 hours on Sept. 18. Demands include a 149,600 won base pay rise, higher bonuses, a later retirement age, and more transparency in performance pay. Management has offered a 100,000 won rise, a 6.5 million won lump-sum payment, and 1 million won in annual benefits.

Does any precedent point to a settlement?

Samsung Heavy Industries reached a tentative deal just before the holiday, the first of the three major Korean shipbuilders to settle this year. The agreement shifts the excess profit incentive calculation from 20% of economic value added to 10% of operating profit — a formula both HD Hyundai and Hanwha unions are likely to study as a reference benchmark.

What is the freight consequence?

Korean yards carry multi-year backlogs of LNG carrier, container vessel, and bulker orders. Any sustained strike action would compress steel deliveries to the yards and could delay new vessel handovers to shipowners, with knock-on effects on global tonnage supply at a time when owners are sequencing new capacity into recovering trades.

The three unions will be watching whether Samsung's shift from EVA to operating profit carries into the rival yards. Until POSCO, HD Hyundai, and Hanwha settle, freight planners face a live risk of further disruption to Korean steel output and ship delivery schedules as the Tuesday talks resume.