Spectacular action: “Our steel goes swimming”: steel workers jump into the water

With a spectacular campaign in the Duisburg inner port, employees of the Steel Group ArcelorMittal demonstrated for the preservation of their jobs and asked for investments in the Duisburg location. Under the motto “Our steel goes swimming”, around 60 steel workers jumped from the Kaimauer to the harbor basin. According to IG Metall, more than 550 employees took part in a parallel rally, including employees of the steel companies HKM and Thyssenkrupp Steel. Arcelormittal produces wire for the auto industry and mechanical engineering in Duisburg and, according to IG Metall, employs around 850 people.

Arcelormittal had put investments in the expansion of more climate -friendly steel production in June, referring to the economic conditions in Germany. The Duisburg location is also affected. An electric laying stove should be built there. In the medium term, this endangers 450 jobs in Duisburg and the entire Duisburg ArcelorMittal location in the long term, according to IG Metall. The union calls for politics, among other things, the introduction of an industrial flow price and better protection against cheap imports.

“With the campaign, we want to point out what happens if politics does not act immediately: Stahl goes swimming,” said the works council chairman of Arcelormittal Duisburg, Wolfgang Kleber. “But we will not watch how an excessive electricity price ensures that our workplaces disappear. It has long been five and not five to twelve.” The campaign therefore symbolically started at 12:05 p.m.