Thousands of Thyssenkrupp employees expressed their dissatisfaction with the company’s management in Essen with posters and whistles. CEO López promised “constructive cooperation.”
Several thousand employees of the industrial group Thyssenkrupp demonstrated in Essen for more say and transparency in important company decisions. “A restructuring of Thyssenkrupp AG against the people will not succeed,” said group works council chairman Tekin Nasikkol. There must be an end to “the course against co-determination”. IG Metall called for participation. CEO Miguel López also spoke at the rally.
The reason for the protest demonstration directly in front of the company headquarters was a meeting of the supervisory board of the group holding company on the same day. Employee representatives accuse the board led by Chairman López, among other things, of not involving them sufficiently and early on in important decisions.
“We won’t let ourselves be sold cheaply”
The focus is primarily on the Thyssenkrupp steel division, which is struggling with the economic downturn and cheap imports. A significant reduction in production capacity in Duisburg is planned, which is to be linked to job cuts. Details have not yet been finalized. There is also a 20 percent stake in the steel division by the EPCG holding company owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The supervisory board is expected to vote on the stake today. Thyssenkrupp has around 100,000 employees worldwide, of which around 27,000 are in the steel division alone.
“We have nothing against billionaires as long as they bring money and invest in steel,” said Nasikkol. However, the employees did not know what Mr. Kretinsky wanted. “Does he want to make money with us, or does he want to make money from us?” People are open to good solutions. “But we won’t let ourselves be sold cheaply.”
In the announced restructuring of the steel division, Nasikkol once again called for compliance with collective agreements, the waiver of redundancies for operational reasons, location guarantees for all locations and further investments in more climate-friendly steel production.
“We want to create socially acceptable solutions in constructive cooperation with employee representatives,” said López. “There should continue to be no redundancies for operational reasons. But we have to act so that steel from Duisburg continues to have a perspective.” There were numerous hecklers during López’s speech.
Source: Stern
