Hyundai Steel, Korea's second-largest steel producer by sales, said on Tuesday it would reopen its cold-rolled steel plant in Tangjin as early as this Thursday and resume wage negotiations with the union.
The company is a key part of the Tangjin steel complex, about 80 kilometers southwest of Seoul, and its operations have been suspended since February 24 due to a prolonged strike by union workers over higher wages.
According to a company representative, the members of the company's trade union are expected to cease collective action at 7 a.m. on Thursday and resume suspended wage negotiations the next day.
Earlier, on January 22, the Hyundai Steel trade union halted cold-rolled production at the Tangin plant due to a strike. In response to the union's strike, the management carried out mass layoffs.
Since September last year, Hyundai Steel's management and the union have been conducting collective wage negotiations, but so far they have not been able to resolve differences on the proposal to increase the base salary and bonuses.
