Unions in India oppose joint venture with POSCO

Back on August 23, the Indian government entered into an agreement with POSCO to create a joint venture for steel production between the Korean steelmaker and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in Visakhapatnam, a port city. and an industrial center in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP).

Union leaders are opposed to the Indian government's alleged joint venture plan on the grounds that it will push the VSP to the downside.

Union leaders are particularly opposed to the Indian government's move to hand over GSP land to POSCO as an incentive to set up a new steel mill. They believe this concession will further increase VSP's losses.

According to media reports from India, the joint venture plans to start production of steel sheet for cars with a capacity of 5 million tons. The project requires an investment of 300 billion rupees (about 4.5 trillion won), of which at least 100 billion rupees (about 1.5 trillion won) must be paid to VSP, even though it is already incurring losses of 30. billion rupees (about 450 billion won).

Union leaders say the Indian government intends to hand over GSP to POSCO.

A report entitled “POSCO-Boon or Bane” was released on November 23, in which he explained the attempts of successive Indian governments to privatize VSPs, and how workers fought and won those attempts.

This comes on the eve of a proposed one-day nationwide strike on November 26, which unions have announced against the labor and agricultural laws imposed by the Indian government.

Rao said on November 24 that the strike was not only aimed at demanding bonuses and higher wages, but also against the Indian government's attempt to privatize state-owned or state-run companies. “We are strongly opposed to the privatization of the Visakhapatnam Steel Works by setting up a joint venture with the South Korean steel company POSCO,” he said.

However, POSCO denied media reports, saying it had not reached an agreement on a joint venture with VSP. “We are just considering a plan to set up a joint venture for steel production in India, but nothing has been decided yet,” a company spokesman said.

POSCO is one of two Korean steelmakers who were asked by the Indian government last year to set up a joint venture to produce steel in India. The Indian government wants to produce high quality steel products such as automotive steel sheets locally. India still lacks advanced steelmaking technology and relies on imports of high-tech products, including automotive steel.

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