ESSEN, Germany (Reuters) - Managers and labor leaders at Germany’s ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE) have struck a conciliatory tone as they seek to resolve a dispute over job cuts resulting from a planned merger of its steel operations with those of India’s Tata Steel (TISC.NS).
The de-escalation came after 8,000 steel workers
protested on Wednesday, the day the Essen-based company announced
improved annual results and a record order book, demanding guarantees to
preserve jobs and production sites for 10 years.
“The negotiations started in a matter-of-fact atmosphere,” a company
spokesman said late on Friday after a working group held a first round
of talks.
A spokesman for the IG Metall trade union said the two sides had agreed
on two of its demands - for an independent appraisal of the deal, as
well a study of the risks arising from Tata Steel’s pension obligations
to its British workers.
Managers from both companies will inspect each other’s production sites
over the next two weeks to examine their respective operational fitness.
Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel in September announced plans for a joint
venture that would create Europe’s second-largest steelmaker after
ArcelorMittal (MT.AS). The merger would result in up to 4,000 job cuts,
although workers fear the toll could end up higher.
Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger has said the deal actually offers the
best chance to preserve jobs as ThyssenKrupp, which employs 27,000
people in its steel division, seeks to diversify into more promising
businesses like high-tech elevators and car components.
“Everything that will be negotiated and possibly agreed will depend on
our judgment of these appraisals,” IG Metall said. “The same applies: If
(the merger) is not economically viable it doesn’t represent a concept
that IG Metall can support.”
