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ArcelorMittal recently confirmed that Liberty House is their preferred buyer for all six European production sites included in the massive divestment package they announced earlier this year. The divestment package (which includes sites in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia and Romania) was the result of the European Commission’s request to ArcelorMittal to alleviate the risks of competition distortion following its acquisition of Ilva.
The remedies announcement came as a huge shock to workers, with an estimated 15,000 direct jobs, and thousands of additional indirect jobs, being affected. Trade unions have been working tirelessly in raising workers’ concerns both to the European Commission (who still need to approve the final buyer) and to ArcelorMittal management. With Liberty House being put forward as ArcelorMittal’s preferred buyer, trade unions are demanding a binding European framework agreement (covering jobs, investment and production levels), access to full and detailed business plans, the respect of information and consultation rights and the full involvement of trade unions in the future strategy of Liberty House.
More than thirty trade union representatives who defend ArcelorMittal steelworkers across Europe, came together yesterday to raise their joint demands to ArcelorMittal and Liberty House management. Now that ArcelorMittal has confirmed Liberty House as their preferred buyer for the six remedied sites, there are no more excuses - European steelworkers must have urgent answers and reassurances to their concerns for the future for each site.
Luis Colunga, Deputy Secretary General of industriAll European trade union, said: ‘’European steelworkers deserve to know exactly what management plans for the future of their sites. Workers have urgent and concerning questions about investment, production and of course job security, and trade unions demand further information and access to detailed business plans now. It is unacceptable for talks to go on behind closed doors when the futures of the workers and their communities are uncertain.’’
Trade unions demonstrated their solidarity by putting forward joint demands for all the affected sites. Workers demanded clarity on the future of European sites, especially in this challenging time when the European steel sector is facing huge challenges such as globalisation, climate change, Trump’s unfair tariffs and of course global overcapacity.
IndustriAll Europe, on behalf of ArcelorMittal trade unions and workers, set out clear demands and urges both Liberty House and ArcelorMittal management to:
Secure the future of all sites through binding commitments, including a European framework agreement to be negotiated with European trade unions, on long-term guarantees for employment, quality of jobs, production levels and investment plan,
Provide full transparency on their strategy by disclosing industrial, business and financial plans devised overall, and for each site individually, as well as the agreement signed between ArcelorMittal and Liberty House on the proposed deal
Respect workers’ rights by ensuring that no final decision is made until proper information, consultation and social dialogue has taken place with trade union and worker representatives at both local and European levels.
Luis Colunga, added: ‘’Any future buyer must ensure the long-term growth of each of the six plants and they must be able to prove their commercial and industrial capacity to invest in all of the plants - this is non-negotiable. We call on the European Commission to ensure that the future of these sites, and the futures of the workers affected, are classed as the number one priority when deciding whether or not to approve Liberty House as buyer for the six remedied sites.
‘’We will continue to support European steel workers and will fight for a positive and prosperous future for our workers and the European steel sector.’’
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