DUISBURG – Germany’s largest union threatened a lengthy standoff with Thyssenkrupp Steel over job cuts on Wednesday and promised action over layoffs at Ford Motor (NYSE: F), adding to a wave of industrial strife hitting the country.
IG Metall made the threats in separate statements after both companies signaled thousands of job losses as they struggled to lower costs in the face of competition from cheaper Asian rivals and a sluggish economy that has eaten into their profits.
“This dispute will be a marathon,” said Knut Giesler, the union’s head in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, adding: “We will use all legal measures to bring our anger to the streets”.
Volkswagen is also locked in a bitter standoff with its workforce over cost-cutting measures and the prospect of the German automaker’s first factory closures on home soil.
Troubles in Europe’s largest economy threaten Germany’s status as an industrial powerhouse in the run-up to elections in February next year, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s economic record under scrutiny.
Scholz has been in touch with the works council over the restructuring plans at Thyssenkrupp, which traces its steel-making business to the early 1800s.
The firm plans to cut some 40% of its workforce at the unit over the coming years. IG Metall said it would not engage in talks unless management ruled out job cuts and factory closures.
Handelsblatt newspaper reported earlier that Thyssenkrupp hasn’t drawn up a detailed proposal on how it aims to cut the jobs, raising questions over the viability of its restructuring.
A spokesperson for the steel unit didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
IG Metall said separately that plans to cut thousands of jobs at Ford Motor (NYSE: F) would spell the demise of the U.S. automaker’s production site in Cologne.
“This would be an incremental death,” said IG Metall representative Kerstin Klein.
“We know the toolbox available in such a dispute and will not hesitate in giving the workforce the appropriate outlet for their anger,” David Luedtke, a workforce representative, said in the statement from the union.
