Hyundai Steel offers voluntary layoffs amid industry downturn

Labor union posters from Hyundai Steel's subsidiary, Hyundai IMC, are displayed in front of Pohang Plant 2 on Feb. 10. (Yonhap)

Hyundai Steel, South Korea’s second-largest steelmaker, is accepting voluntary layoffs from technical workers amid industry challenges and uncertainties over Trump’s second term.

According to industry sources Wednesday, Hyundai Steel is accepting resignation applications from technical staff at its Pohang plant in North Gyeongsang Province until March 14, with all 1,200 eligible workers subject to the program.

It remains unclear how many employees will opt in, particularly given that Hyundai Steel’s labor union has historically been actively engaged in negotiations.

Hyundai Steel faces both domestic and global challenges this year, including a downturn in Korea’s construction sector, an oversupply of Chinese steel and US steel tariffs.

As part of its efforts to overcome these obstacles, the company has scaled back operations at its second plant in Pohang since late last year. Initially planning to shutter the facility entirely, Hyundai Steel instead reduced its capacity after facing pushback from the labor union.

Along with the resignation program, Hyundai Steel is also seeking to relocate some workers to its thin plate production mill in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province. The Dangjin mill, which suspended operations in 2020 amid declining profitability and a transition toward low-carbon manufacturing, is set to resume operations in the latter half of this year.

Meanwhile, labor tensions persist at Hyundai Steel’s cold-rolled steel mill in Dangjin, where the company has implemented a partial workplace closure since Feb. 24. This follows a series of strikes as labor-management negotiations over wage talks have remained deadlocked since last September.

“The difficult conditions in the steel market led to this voluntary resignation initiative,” a Hyundai Steel official said. “The company will proceed with both the resignations and workforce transfers through discussions with the labor union while striving to maintain employment stability.”