Press Release No. 49/2016 IG Metall: 12,000 workers from the German steel industry demonstrate in Brussels under...

Brussels – A total of 15,000 workers from the European and German steel industries, representing more than ten European countries, demonstrated in Brussels today to demand fair and secure conditions for their sectors. “Europe must make a clear and unequivocal commitment to the steel industry and ensure that the framework conditions are right. If the European steel industry goes down the drain, then hundreds of thousands of jobs—not just in the steel industry in Europe—will be at risk,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, at the rally on Wednesday in Brussels marking the European Steel Action Day “No Europe without steel,” which had been called for by the industrial trade union federation IndustriAll Europe.

“We need an emissions trading system that pursues ambitious environmental goals but at the same time does not jeopardize the very existence of the steel industry. And we need fair trade and, above all, effective trade defense instruments,” said the IG Metall chairman. IG Metall and its European partner unions are advocating for trade defense measures against “steel at dumping prices,” with which China in particular is flooding the European market. Thanks to high investments in climate protection, Germany has the most environmentally friendly steel production in the world. “All that will be for naught if steel production is lost in Germany and Europe. Then steel will be produced in places where it is many times more harmful to the climate,” said Hofmann.

In addition, the unions are concerned about the planned changes to the European carbon emissions trading system: These changes will impose an additional burden of more than one billion euros on steel companies. “That is why the steel industry must remain part of the carbon leakage sector. We need the allocation of free emission allowances to resume. And we want the 10 percent of steel mills that are the most climate-friendly to continue receiving 100 percent free allocation based on their steel production,” Hofmann demanded.

Note to editors:
Today, 12,000 employees from the German steel industry took part in the day of action. In the run-up to the day of action, employees at steel sites in Saarland had already drawn attention to their interests during the night of November 7–8 with vigils and special works meetings under the slogan “Night of 1,000 Lights.” At Salzgitter AG, employees lit up the sky over Salzgitter with an action during the night of November 8–9 under the slogan “Night of Steel-Red Lights.”

For more information, visit /vorstand/en/presse as well as at www.igmetall.de/stahl-ist-zukunft and http://www.industriall-europe.eu/.