German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp will cut 11,000 jobs

The steel branch of the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp announced, Monday November 25, a reduction of 11,000 jobs by 2030 and wage savings, illustrating the difficulties faced by European steelmakers due to Chinese competition.

Some 5,000 jobs in production and administrative services will be eliminated while 6,000 will be outsourced, i.e. more than 11% of the total workforce, the leading German steelmaker announced in a press release. ThyssenKrupp Steel, which has been accumulating losses for several years, also wants to reduce labor costs by 10% on average “in the coming years”. These measures are “necessary to improve the productivity and operational efficiency of ThyssenKrupp Steel, and to achieve a competitive cost level”specifies the group.

This project is a “disaster for employees and industry in North Rhine-Westphalia”the birthplace of the group in western Germany, the IG Metall union was outraged.

The “unchanged” ecological transition objectives

In April, the industrial conglomerate announced a restructuring of its steel subsidiary, its core business, due to rising energy costs and Chinese competition, in the context of a complex and costly energy transition. According to the plan presented on Monday, steel production capacities will be reduced to between 8.7 and 9 million tonnes, compared to 11.5 million today.

In addition, the Kreuztal-Eichen site (west of Germany), which employs 1,000 people, according to the local press, will be closed. At the same time, the group still intends to gradually separate from ThyssenKrupp Steel, a process accelerated in May with the acquisition of 20% of the shares by Daniel Kretinsky, with his holding company EPCG. Discussions are underway on an additional 30% stake for EPCG, with the aim of creating an equally owned joint company.

The conglomerate had committed earlier, on Monday, to financing its steel branch for the next two years. As for its ecological transition projects, they remain “unchanged”specifies the subsidiary, which wishes to start its production of“green steel”.