The merger of Germany’s Thyssen with Tata Steel
Vote “No” on union-backed steel contract! Defend all jobs!
By
Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei
16 January 2018
The IG Metall trade union is currently holding votes at all German ThyssenKrupp locations on a contract it negotiated with ThyssenKrupp shortly before Christmas. The contract will implement the merger of Germany’s largest steel producer with India’s Tata Steel. The goal of the merger is the implementation of cost-cutting rationalisation measures and mass layoffs in Germany and Britain.
The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP) calls on the approximately 27,000 steelworkers at eight German locations to oppose the contract and vote it down. A “No” vote must be made the prelude to the formation of action committees in all steel plants and the organisation of joint methods of struggle with British steelworkers for a principled defence of all jobs.
IG Metall initially intended to keep the contract secret. The union planned to hold the vote without releasing any details on it. Only following protests from the workforce did the union provide the workers with access to the agreement.
Leading trade union officials, like deputy chair of ThyssenKrupp’s supervisory board and IG Metall secretary Markus Grolms, spoke out, telling the Rheinische Post that job “security now prevails for a long time.” The central works council chair at Thyssen Krupp, Günther Back, grandiosely declared that jobs and locations would be guaranteed for nine years, and effectively for ten years due to redundancy protection.
A closer inspection of the contract makes clear that this is not the case. IG Metall has explicitly agreed to “personnel adjustments”—i.e., layoffs.
Paragraph 8 of the agreement states, “The parties…