Trade Union at U.S. Steel Kosice Declares Strike Alert

Kosice, 12 January (TASR) - The trade union at the U.S. Steel Kosice steelworks declared a strike alert on Monday, TASR has learnt from Juraj Varga, head of the OZ KOVO trade union at U.S Steel Kosice. The reason is the failure to find agreement on the form of a new company collective agreement despite eight rounds of collective bargaining held between the company management and the trade union. The previous collective agreement at the steelworks was valid until 31 December 2025. Collective bargaining on the new one, which lasted eight rounds, resulted in the declaration of a dispute. The first round of bargaining was held on 14 October, and the most recent one on 16 December. "We're proceeding in line with the law on collective bargaining, with a strike alert being not a strike itself, but an expression of the employees' readiness to begin one if necessary," said Varga. The trade union reported that the first point at issue became the weekly working time, and specifically the employer’s enormous pressure to increase this. The employer proposed extending the weekly working time from the current 35.5 hours to 37.5 hours. According to the trade union, another problematic issue is the employer's unwillingness to increase tariff salaries for 2026, as well as a cut in the benefits included in the union's proposal. The unions identified three core pillars of their position: employment, working time and salaries. "Our goal in the collective bargaining is to maintain an acceptable standard of living for employees in key areas, without a further increase in weekly working hours. At the same time, we want to obtain salary increases, which directly affects the quality of life of our members and employees," stated Varga. As part of the declaration of the dispute, trade union representatives asked the Labour Ministry to assign a mediator on 9 January. This process should be implemented within 30 days of the request being received. The union plans to organise a protest rally in Kosice's borough of Saca on 21 January. As many as 7,700 full-time employees work for U.S. Steel Kosice. Following an 18-month procedure, an acquisition was completed last June under which Japanese steel company Nippon took over US steel concern U.S. Steel, including its Slovak plant. ko/df