PRESS RELEASE The federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia should fill the vacant seats on the supervisory board at Thyssenkrupp Steel

Frankfurt am Main – At its meeting yesterday, Monday afternoon, the IG Metall Executive Board discussed the current situation at thyssenkrupp in detail. The members of the 34-person executive committee expressed deep concern over the latest developments, particularly the resignation of Sigmar Gabriel and Elke Eller from the supervisory board on the grounds that trusting cooperation with the thyssenkrupp AG executive board was no longer possible.

“The upcoming restructuring, the planned spin-off, and the green transformation must not be carried out at the expense of the 27,000 employees in the steel sector,” said IG Metall President Christiane Benner after the executive board meeting in Frankfurt am Main. “We call on the federal government and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia to claim the two Supervisory Board seats that are becoming vacant on behalf of the state and the federal government.” This is necessary, she said, to ensure a transparent and fair sharing of the burden between thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG and its parent company, thyssenkrupp AG.

Since the state and federal governments are investing two billion euros in taxpayer money into the green transformation at thyssenkrupp, IG Metall believes such a step is legitimate and justifiable. This is all the more true given that the new co-shareholder, Daniel Kretinsky, also received two seats on the supervisory board in exchange for his investment, which amounted to a low three-digit million figure.

IG Metall fears that the public dismantling of the Steel Division’s executive board and the resulting resignation of the external supervisory board members were deliberately orchestrated to fill the key positions of CEO and chairman of the supervisory board for the Steel Division with allies from the AG executive board—to the detriment of jobs and employees at the steel mills.

“Transparency, equality, and respect for employees must once again become the standard in thyssenkrupp’s co-determination bodies,” Benner demands. “Anyone who attempts to roll back co-determination must expect fierce resistance from IG Metall. A company cannot be run against the will of its employees.”

She called on CEO Miguel Lopez and Supervisory Board Chairman Siegfried Russwurm to resume dialogue with the employees and to develop solutions for the steel division together with the works councils, their representatives, and committees.

Further information and press photos of Christiane Benner