POSCO’s Representative Organizations, Including the POSCO Labor Union and Labor-Management Council, Participate in Overseas Donation Efforts and Have Been Washing, Packaging, and Transporting Old Uniforms Since March

Delivered to Low-Income Livestock Farmers in Mongolia in Collaboration with International NGO Global Sharing Movement

POSCO’s labor and management have achieved their first significant milestone in meaningfully repurposing old uniforms, which they have used together for the past 30 years. On June 3, POSCO’s labor and management held a ceremony at the Jargalant Community Development and Education Center in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to donate old uniforms to low-income livestock farmers.

This donation was made in collaboration with the Global Sharing Movement (NGO), which conducts educational projects for low-income livestock farmers in Mongolia. The event was attended by representatives from POSCO’s labor organizations, including the POSCO Labor Union, the Labor-Management Council, the Labor Cooperation Office, and the Global Sharing Movement.

In February, POSCO introduced new uniforms that prioritize safety in line with global standards. The company announced plans to explore new uses for the existing sky-blue uniforms, including supporting vulnerable overseas communities. Of the old uniforms, 10,000 pieces will be used by workers in low-income livestock farming communities in Mongolia, 20,000 pieces were donated to a vocational training sewing center in Madagascar, and 60,000 pieces will be sent to job-creation sewing centers in the Philippines, Nepal, and Ethiopia to help low-income women become self-reliant. These uniforms will undergo reprocessing and commercialization.

Bon-seok Lee, the employee representative of POSCO’s Labor-Management Council, said, “We are honored to donate POSCO’s uniforms overseas and will continue to actively participate in meaningful activities in the future.” Seong-han Lee, the planning director of the POSCO Labor Union, said, “We will fulfill the social responsibilities of the union and lead the way in establishing an exemplary K-labor-management culture. We also plan to actively participate in volunteer and sharing activities in the future.” Since March, POSCO’s labor union and labor-management council have worked together on washing, packaging, and transporting the uniforms for donation.

Meanwhile, this donation effort is particularly meaningful in that it involved POSCO Group’s collective capabilities. POSCO Humans, the first domestic subsidiary-type standard workplace for the disabled, collected and washed the uniforms, while POSCO Flow used domestic and international logistics networks to transport them overseas.

▲POSCO’s labor and management representatives take a commemorative photo with livestock farming community members in Jargalant, Mongolia, after delivering the old uniforms.

With the winter season in full swing in northern India, POSCO India and India Delhi Processing Center (IDPC) employees, under the charismatic leadership of President Mr. Gee Woong Sung, planned to distribute warm smiles to needy children living in the slums. As an extension to the food donation drive, POSCO employees planned a visit in collaboration with the Delhi-NCR Food Bank on December 9, to one of the slum schools run by Sakshi, a non-governmental organization (NGO), at Badshahpur in Gurugram, Haryana.

The Sakshi Center at Badshahpur has around 200 impoverished kids who get a free education and meals. The ages of these children range between 3 to 10 years old. They receive a basic education at a small school which has 5 classrooms, 1 library cum computer room and 7 teachers in total. The children come in batches of 100, in 2 different shifts.

About Sakshi

Sakshi is the only full-spectrum grassroots NGO in India providing services spanning the development trifecta of education, health and community development to its community. The organization is thus able to provide a comprehensive path from poverty to prosperity for the destitute, and fully empower them to tread on it successfully.

Over the last eighteen years, Sakshi has grown to 120 centers and managed to carve paths to a beautiful life for thousands of marginalized young children, women and communities.

What was POSCO India’s role in this donation drive?

During this donation drive, POSCO India & IDPC voluntarily planned to spend time to help and support the children. They served food, cleaned & sanitized the school premises and provided logistic and stationary aid for the children to be able to continue their day to day education. The company donated shoe stands, notebooks, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, sketch pens, crayons and writing and reading books for the library. All the kids were extremely excited and overjoyed to meet POSCO volunteers at their school, and it was clearly evident that the feeling was mutual among POSCO employees as well. At the end of the visit, snacks were given to each child: a pack of apple juice and a banana, which ended up being the icing on the cake for the day.

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Until recently, five year old Ritchell and his friends spent their days no different as explained above. As Ritchell’s father left his family long time ago, his responsibility became helping around the farm and household. Ritchell’s family was unable to provide a proper education for him, as well as the least amount of necessary food for the day.

POSCO Children Development Center built in Ritchell’s village

Before the POSCO Children Development Center was built, the concept of kindergarten was vaguely known to a large populous of the children and families of Zimbabwe. Now that the center has opened, children like Ritchell, along with more than eighty other friends are able to learn, write, sing, draw and play together as a whole.

Ritchell’s gloomy days have totally changed. Going to kindergarten helped Ritchell gain weight, allowing his health conditions to improve overall. His talent of drawing has exceeded as he loves to draw chickens, chicks and other various objects that surround him. Ritchell turns six next year, and assures he will most definitely continue into elementary school, in which POSCO is able to help him with donations from our employees.

This is how Ritchell’s day changed to. Let’s take a look.

At six o’clock sharp, Ritchell wakes up. In a heartbeat he runs to the POSCO Children Development Center where from 8am to 1pm are the most precious and exciting moments of his entire day. Once children arrive at the kindergarten, our partner organization, KFHI(Korea Food for the Hungry International) staffs take care of the them with much affection and care. KFHI is POSCO’s partner NGO that manages children development center and agricultural center in Seke, Zimbabwe.

What’s even more exciting is that Ritchell’s attitude has certainly changed after attending the kindergarten and so has his mother. Ever since Ritchell’s father left home a typical day for his mother would be to stay home and not go out. Today, however, she joins Ritchell by visiting the center where she helps to cook and clean. Ritchell’s mother became proud of her son, showing tears of joy as Ritchell recently learned how to spell and write his name for the first time.

POSCO, Hope for Children

Most children of Seke, Zimbabwe are AIDS-positive. During a time of necessary vital cares, these children were neglected and left to starve out of parents’ ignorance and irresponsibility, but most of all poverty. In addition, rarely are these children given a chance to learn or even have a proper meal due to poor conditions.

POSCO provided parental care to the children aged between three to five years, by building a Daycare Center at the village of Cashel. The operating expense for the center is entirely covered by the voluntary donations of POSCO employee’s. About 900 employees are sponsoring the center with their own money, preparing gifts, and sending cards for the POSCO Center children from time to time.

Both the Cashel children and many families were able to escape from a severe poverty thanks to POSCO employees and their small help.

POSCO is continuously funding places like Africa where help is desperately needed. There are countless children around the world who need such support. POSCO wishes that you may share this common goal with us. A small interest from you can change these people’s lives, more that you know it.