Thyssenkrupp aims to cut 11,000 jobs in its steel division which is 40 percent of the current total of 27,000 jobs Germany’s largest steel company announced this on Monday leaving steelworkers on the Rhine and Ruhr the IG Metall trade union has made clear that it will support these attacks—provided plant closures and compulsory redundancies are ruled out the management board of the company’s steel division presented the long-announced “comprehensive industrial future concept” to the strategy committee of the supervisory board It is an austerity plan designed to secure profits in the escalating global trade and economic war at the expense of the workforce 5,000 jobs are to be cut at steelworks and factories at all sites and this also includes “a significant streamlining of the administrative functions.” The processing plant in Kreuztal-Eichen in the Siegerland region is also likely to be particularly affected Another 6,000 jobs are to be shed through outsourcing to external service providers or through sales This particularly affects the 3,000 steelworkers at Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) in the south of Duisburg Thyssenkrupp is the largest shareholder there with 50 percent If the current purchase negotiations with the Hamburg-based financial investor CE Capital Partners (CEC) fail “Thyssenkrupp Steel will hold talks with the other shareholders about mutually agreed closure scenarios,” the group explained The remaining 16,000 employees face wage cuts of 10 percent in order to bring personnel costs “to a competitive level,” according to the company Newly hired employees are to receive lower wages the parent company’s chief human resources officer announced that he would be resigning from this job on January 31 who was the North Rhine-Westphalia district leader of IG Metall before joining the group’s executive board wants to devote himself entirely to his second job as CEO of the shipyard division Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) which produces submarines and warships and employs 6,500 people is almost drowning in orders because of escalating wars and Burkhard says he wants to concentrate fully on this task It is not yet known who will succeed him as head of HR at ThyssenKrupp will compete with other “distinguished” union officials for the job which promises a salary of €400,000—per month Knut Giesler is likely to be among the applicants The successor to Oliver Burkhard at IG Metall immediately declared his willingness to support the cutbacks in the steel division he told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the union’s “red lines” were layoffs and plant closures As soon as a commitment not to do so was secured deputy chairman of IG Metall and deputy chairman of the Thyssenkrupp supervisory board “We expect clear statements on the exclusion of redundancies and the preservation of all locations.” A joint “Duisburg Declaration” by all Thyssenkrupp works council representatives is even clearer “We do not close our eyes to the reality of the weak economy and the weak sales market in the automotive industry,” it says They were also aware “that the European framework conditions for the steel industry are challenging.” The works council reps are also calling for no compulsory redundancies and site closures IG Metall has already agreed to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the past—it also has other methods of pushing workers out of the company—and has ultimately accepted the closure of most threatened steelworks in the past The Thyssenkrupp board is familiar with this game It has already made assurances that it remains its “declared goal” to “avoid compulsory redundancies.” It is therefore already clear that IG Metall and its works council reps will follow the line of the group’s management “We know that restructuring is necessary,” Giesler confirmed on Deutschlandfunk “We have never opposed that.” But the break-up must “make sense.” He and the IG Metall are demanding a financing commitment for the steel division of more than two years as the parent company under CEO Miguel López had already given The parent company is currently trying to transfer the steel division to a joint venture with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky He already has a 20 percent stake in the steel division through his EP Corporate Group (EPCG) It is unclear whether he will end up with the desired 50 percent The disputes over the amount of the financing commitment led to the departure of several members of the management and supervisory boards of the steel division at the beginning of August Chief Human Resources Officer Markus Grolms (IG Metall) Chief Production Officer Heike Denecke-Arnold Supervisory Board Chairman Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democrat announced in the presence of Gabriel and Wetzel: “We will fight from tomorrow on Someone has to stop this madness.” Almost four months later like the proverbial deer in the headlights waited spellbound for the announcement of the jobs massacre that has now been presented It exceeds even the horror scenarios of the union which had warned of the loss of 10,000 jobs Giesler is jubilant that the capacity reduction in steel production will be less harsh than feared Thyssenkrupp Steel wants to reduce its production capacity from the current 11.5 tonnes to 8.7–9 million tonnes per year Giesler expressed his satisfaction: “This would mean that both steelworks in the north of Duisburg would be retained.” The commitment to the DRI (direct reduction) plant was also “the right signal,” according to the IG Metall district manager With the help of the direct reduction plant the steel is to be smelted with “green hydrogen,” and thus CO2-free The first blast furnace is under construction with Thyssenkrupp receiving €2 billion in taxpayers’ money from the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia the construction of a second DRI plant is still in the air the management board plans to shut down blast furnaces 8 and 9 permanently after the first direct reduction plant goes into operation and to decommission blast furnace 1 (nicknamed the “Black Giant”) in 2031 The works council complains that this would make the company dependent on steel suppliers operating the Black Giant for another seven years would require investments of €300–400 million Nobody believes that this will be made available for the old The steelworkers of Thyssenkrupp and HKM cannot defend their jobs without breaking with IG Metall and their works council reps They must ally with their colleagues in the auto where tens of thousands of jobs are also being destroyed And they must join forces with workers in other countries and wage the struggle internationally The jobs massacre in the steel industry is not a natural disaster but a consequence of the bankruptcy of the capitalist system which subordinates the needs of society to the profit hunger of billionaire oligarchs energy and markets is being waged at the expense of the workers which is now escalating into a third world war as in the NATO war against Russia and in the Middle East The steel industry is particularly affected by the consequences—by the economic crisis in general the slump in sales in the automotive industry which is one of the main consumers of steel Now US President-elect Donald Trump has announced he will further raise tariffs on steel which will particularly affect European steel producers are reacting by making the workforce pay for the pro-war policy and maintaining the shareholders’ profit interests Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has announced that domestic industry will be protected against international competition for security reasons—as a supplier to the arms industry he is further tightening the screws of trade war and war In a joint statement with the Südwestmetall employers’ federation issued after the beginning of the war in Ukraine the Baden-Württemberg association of the IG Metall supported NATO’s proxy war against Russia and announced: “These measures will demand sacrifices from all of us.” The IG Metall bureaucrats know no “red lines.” They will sacrifice every social gain and millions of jobs to ensure the profits of big business and the policy of war The fight against job cuts must therefore be linked to the fight against war We call on all Thyssenkrupp workers to work to build a rank-and-file action committee to defend all jobs and workers’ rights in principle Contact us! It’s time to take action. Send a WhatsApp message to +491633378340 and register right away using the form below Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Alexander Brand assumed the position as Managing Director from Dr Brand has been working for Blefa as Global Sales Director Humme has retired as Head of Beverage Systems of the Franke Group due to health problems He has been substantially responsible for extension of this division within the Franke Group Helmut Brockelmanns has taken over the responsibility as Head of Beverage Systems Germany Newsletter archive and information Looking to access paid articles across multiple policy topics Interested in policy insights for EU professional organisations “We can still stop the job losses that have been taking place in energy-intensive industries for three years,” IG Metall deputy chief Jürgen Kerner said either observed and verified directly by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Demonstrators take part in a protest organized by IG Metall Siegen against the planned closure of the ThyssenKrupp site in Kreuztal-Eichen Germany [Benjamin Westhoff/picture alliance via Getty Images]