Following the resignations of the board members at Thyssenkrupp Steel, Thyssenkrupp’s chief supervisor Russwurm feels compelled to make a statement. He has nothing good to say about the departing steel board members.
Following the resignation of three board members of the Thyssenkrupp steel division, the chairman of the supervisory board of the parent company Thyssenkrupp, Siegfried Russwurm, has heavily criticized the management of the steel subsidiary. “Despite all commendable efforts, the management of Thyssenkrupp Steel has not only failed in recent months, but for years, to provide successful answers to the structural challenges of the steel business and its economic difficulties,” Russwurm said in a statement on Thursday evening. The manager is also president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
The loss-making steel division is to be restructured and made independent. Among other things, the group’s management and the steel management have been bitterly arguing for weeks about the financial resources provided by the parent company on the way to independence. On Thursday it was announced that steel boss Bernhard Osburg, the head of production and the head of human resources are leaving the company with immediate effect. In the course of this, four steel supervisory board members also announced their resignation. Among them is the previous chairman Sigmar Gabriel. He had accused Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel López of a defamation campaign against the steel board. He indirectly accused Russwurm of inaction.
Russwurm: Steel management has “invested incorrectly or poorly”
In his statement, Russwurm explained that the Steel management had repeatedly fallen well short of its own plans. This also applies to the current financial year. Agreed restructuring programs have not produced the effects promised by the Steel management. “Thyssenkrupp Steel is constantly consuming liquidity at the expense of its own future, all other businesses and the owners of the group and has not gained control of this situation under its previous leadership.” Against this background, the three long-serving members of the Executive Board left the company by mutual agreement.
The vacant board positions will be filled “in a timely manner”
After the resignations, the parent company announced that the remaining board members Dennis Grimm (technology) and Philipp Conze (finance) would continue to run the steel segment’s business. “The vacant positions will be filled in a structured process as soon as possible,” it said. The vacant departments will be divided up in the meantime. Grimm will take over the role of board spokesman. A decision will be made shortly on who will fill the vacant supervisory board seats and on who will succeed Sigmar Gabriel as chairman of the supervisory board.
The steel division has been suffering for a long time from the economic downturn and cheap imports. This is one of the reasons why it has had to cut capacity and therefore also staff. What the reshuffling of the executive board and supervisory board means for the future of the employees is still completely unclear. The supervisory board had actually wanted to draw up a plan for financing the next two years – but this did not happen.
The Thyssenkrupp steel division is Germany’s largest steel producer. 27,000 people are employed there, 13,000 of whom work in Duisburg alone. The works council fears that the restructuring will “halve the steelworks” and lead to thousands of jobs being cut.
Source: Stern
