The Luxembourg Government has stated its commitment to guarantee existing social benefits for employees following the sale of the Dudelange steel plant.
The LCGB yesterday met with the Ministers of Labour and the Economy, the Mayor of Dudelange and other trade unions to discuss the buyout and future orientation of the Dudelange steel plant.
During this meeting, the LCGB once again underlined its doubts about the unexpected arrival of Liberty House in this affair while the government underlined its commitment to guarantee the existing social benefits as well as its interest to develop the steel site and perpetuate it for the years to come. The government also announced a meeting with Liberty House and ArcelorMittal scheduled for today, Friday 16 November 2018, the results of which are yet to be revealed.
While insisting on meeting in a tripartite framework in order to initiate the future buyer to the Luxembourg social dialogue, the LCGB also presented its various reflections in the interest of the future of the site and the jobs and claimed guarantees for 2 key areas: firstly, regarding the technical-industrial component, the LCGB has proposed a business and real industrial plan related to investments, which underline the future direction of the site; secondly, concerning the socio-economic component, the LCGB has demanded guarantees for the continuation of current social agreements, even beyond the expiry of their validity, in order to maintain social dialogue and social peace. The trade union also insisted that ArcelorMittal honour and support this aspect at all costs.
The LCGB maintained that Liberty House remains an unrecognised player in the European steel industry and raised concerns that its strategy so far is to buy back companies in financial difficulty at a low price to benefit from state subsidies while performing a successful financial transaction.
Liberty House, which prides itself on making an excellent presentation of the group GFG (Gupta Family Group) has also launched the purchase of ArcelorMittal steel tools of a value interpreted following the equivalent purchase of the Italian steelmaker Ilva for approximately €1.8 billion. However, the LCGB remains convinced that the Mittal and Gupta families have come up with a partnership arrangement, where other actors could have appeared as real competition. In this context, the trade union has urged the European Commission to assume responsibility by reviewing and, if necessary, adapting the competition rules.
The LCGB also pointed out its belief that, at the European level, the Industriall trade union group will quickly bring together all the trade union organisations concerned to coordinate the process.
