POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo has recently started to’take care of safety’. It is to put’safety’ first in all business activities this year. However, the evaluation and reaction of civil society and labor organizations are cold.
Even around the POSCO Group, there is a cynical atmosphere. This is because, despite the safety measures that have already been announced several times, there are cases where workers lose their lives every year in various accidents.
Accordingly, in the civil society and the labor world, not only the opposition of Chairman Choi’s reappointment but also the argument that the National Pension should actively exercise shareholder rights and appoint public interest directors is gaining strength. The National Pension Plan is one of POSCO’s largest shareholders.
Chairman Choi “Active the right to stop working”
According to POSCO and others, Chairman Choi recently announced through the group management meeting that “we will make safety our top priority in all business activities this year.” In addition, the employee’s right to stop working at the work site was also actively implemented. The right to stop work is the right of employees to refuse when they receive instructions that are not properly secured on the job site, or when they have difficulty working due to physical or emotional factors.
Chairman Choi reportedly said, “If production is insufficient for taking safety measures, we should not hold responsibility in the future, but rather reward it.” Chairman Choi has emphasized’safety’ in this year’s New Year and his visits to Pohang and Gwangyang Steelworks.
POSCO also introduced ‘6 key safety management measures’ this year. In addition to the enforcement of the right to stop working, it created a safety newspaper, announced the expansion of safety smart infrastructure, and strengthening support for safety management of partners. At the end of last year, they said they would invest 1 trillion won for three years from this year for special safety measures. He added that it has already improved the working environment by investing KRW 1.3157 trillion in replacement of old facilities for three years from 2018.
However, despite these measures, POSCO’s industrial accidents have not ceased over the past three years. According to the data released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 18 workers in total were killed in industrial accidents at the POSCO workplace during this period. Of these workers, five were the primary contractor and 13 were subcontracted.
Endless industrial accidents… 18 workers died during three years of tenure
In addition, during this period, POSCO received special supervision from the Ministry of Labor six times, but industrial accidents did not improve at all. In particular, on July 13, last year, after a worker who was inspecting facilities at the Gwangyang Steelworks crashed and died, the Ministry of Labor was supervising planning for a week from the 21st. However, two days after supervision was over, a subcontractor at the support center of the same factory died of cardiac arrest.
POSCO’s industrial accident was not yesterday and today. When looking at the number of major industrial accidents and the average accident rate released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor every year, POSCO has more frequent industrial accidents and more employees than workplaces in the same industry.
Lee Ji-woo, an executive at the Economic and Financial Center of the Participatory Solidarity, pointed out, “In 2015, the average accident rate was up to 15 times higher than in the same industry, and the average death rate in 2018 was up to 52 times.” He added, “The Ministry of Labor publishes these statistics every year for only serious industrial accident sites, and POSCO is making a name for it almost every two years.”
Along with this, controversy over local environmental pollution in POSCO remains. Recently, there have even been claims that hazardous substances emitted from POSCO’s production process are adversely affecting the health of workers and citizens.
Last year, a special supervision of the Ministry of Labor for the Gwangyang Steel Works revealed 598 violations of the law, and an order to suspend the use of 27 pressure vessels that failed the autonomous safety inspection was also issued. In addition, in February of last year, the Civil Organization’s Occupational and Environmental Ministry 119 and the POSCO branch of the metallurgical union applied for a collective industrial accident asking eight POSCO workers to recognize’occupational cancer’.
Civil society launches anti-reappointment campaign… “The national pension must exercise shareholder rights”
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| ▲ On the afternoon of December 23, last year, a press conference urged for a full investigation of occupational cancer and safety and health diagnosis held in front of the main gate of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. | |
| Ⓒ Joint coverage photo |
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According to the union, the workers suffered from cancers such as lung cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and sero lymphoma, and they have in common that they worked for 30 to 40 years at the Pohang Works coke process and the cold mill. It was argued that workers at the steel mill have been exposed to carcinogens such as crystalline free bacteria and asbestos for a long time.
However, POSCO’s position is that it cannot find a causal relationship with’occupational cancer’. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the work environment has been measured twice a year, and the exposure to hazardous substances has also been significantly lower than the legal standards, he explained.
In response to the controversy surrounding POSCO, civil society has argued that public interest directors should be appointed to improve governance. To this end, the national pension must actively exercise shareholder rights.
Attorney Kim Jong-bo (Ministry of Economic Affairs Committee, a group of lawyers for democratic society) said, “A lot of workers are dying in POSCO,” and “Chairman Choi has already been accused of violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act.” “POSCO has also violated the Labor Union Act and the Air Environment Conservation Act due to labor oppression and environmental pollution,” he said. “Apart from the prosecution investigation, POSCO must actively exercise shareholder rights in the national pension system, which is a major shareholder of POSCO.” As of the end of last year, the National Pension System owns an 11.43% stake in POSCO.
He said, “Chairman Choi and the eight internal and external directors did not fulfill the obligations of the directors’ faithfulness and choice because they did not come up with measures and prevent recurrence of POSCO’s serious problems.” He emphasized, “We must exercise the right to vote against the agenda for the succession of directors.”
Prior to this, civil society labor organizations such as Minbyun, Participation Solidarity, Public Transport Union National Pension Branch, and KCTU also held separate conferences on the 27th of last month, saying, “We need to change POSCO, which has been branded as a risky company.” “I oppose the appointment of a director who is not interested in this.”