Before a meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) with representatives of the steel industry in Berlin, workers’ representatives warn of weakening the largest German producer Thyssenkrupp Steel through cutback plans by the board.
“I can only warn the board that I want to make the largest steel site in Europe small and weak,” said Ali Güzel, who as a works council chairman at the Duisburg-Hamborn site also represents the interests of workers on the supervisory board of Thyssenkrupp Steel, to the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday’s publication.
The planned shutdown of two blast furnaces in Duisburg by 2030 comes “close to a partial closure of the steel site in Duisburg,” Güzel said. “That’s an attack on our furnace.”
German Chancellor Scholz will meet with representatives of the steel industry at the Chancellor’s office on Monday to discuss the tense situation in the industry.
Güzel also accused the management of Thyssenkrupp Steel of slowing down the development of a green steel production in Duisburg. “The original plan for the green transformation envisioned four direct reduction facilities. Now the board has presented us with a plan that mentions only one direct reduction facility. That’s too little for Europe’s largest steel site,” Güzel said to the WAZ. “What the board plans is, in truth, the exit from the green transformation.