Employees and German steel worker union IG Metall have made numerous attempts to prevent the closure. It was only on 23 May that almost 1,000 employees drove to the company headquarters in Paris in 18 buses. They were on the road for more than 24 hours in order to personally bring their demands to the company management. IG Metall’s General Works Council Chairman Mr Vilson Gegic has described the mood in the Vallourec plants after the company announced the closure of the two German locations in Düsseldorf and Mülheim this week. He said “The jobs of 2,500 employees are therefore on the verge of disappearing. The workforce is now paying for the failure of the managers. The employer plans to close by the end of 2023, that's how long it will take for the plants in Brazil to be converted and certified. But the group did the calculation without us employees. That still has to be discussed with us as the works council as to when the last person here will leave the plant. The workforce is behind us. We showed that in Paris.”IG Metall’s Düsseldorf Works Council head Mr Alexander Szlieszus said “We went to Paris to ask for clarity. We wanted to know if the works would be sold or not. When the plants were closed, we called for negotiations and ultimately a proper social wage agreement. A possible sale of the works is still in the air until the beginning of this week. However, there are strong doubts from the workers' side that these attempts were credible. In fact, the market for oil and natural gas, for which the German locations produce steel tubes, is very tight. Even before the Russian war of aggression, which aggravated the situation, it was foreseeable that finite resources were limited and the market was changing. We have long been on the mat with the top management with the demand to convert production to the market of renewable energies. We could manufacture various products in this area without any problems. Likewise parts for bridge construction.”Mr Szlieszus added “But the company seems to want a quick profit. The closure is mainly justified with the economic difficulties in Vallourec. However, the headquarters in France has repeatedly made it clear to the plants in Germany that their production should be relocated to the Brazilian plant. At the same time, the factory premises here in the north of Düsseldorf are worth a lot. It becomes obvious that management is more interested in quick profits than in the future of the employees.”IG Metall Düsseldorf-Neuss Managing Director Mr Karsten Kaus said “The sales process was a farce and we doubt that the proposed continuation concept was even examined in detail. Together with a management consultancy, the general works council and IG Metall had previously developed a continuation concept on their own initiative, which was intended to create future prospects with new products. We continue to demand guaranteed job security, investments in the locations and a sustainable industrial concept as well as severance pay and exit programs in the event of necessary staff reductions if the plants are unavoidably closed. And if we can't get any further by talking, then everything is ready for the labor dispute. The management will notice that we don't let everything be done with us.”IG Metall’s Mülheim Works Council Chaiman Mr Ousama Bouarous said “In Mülheim, too, the workforce is resolute. We won't give up now. This is our last labor dispute and we will not make it easy for the employers. We will put a lot of pressure on the workforce with our demands and will only stop once we have agreed on a collective wage agreement that we can live with. We built the company and thus ensured that the group could expand in the first place. With the relocation to Brazil, the employees of the two plants now expect that the company management will take this into account.”Meudon France headquartered global seamless pipe leader announced in January-March result update that it plans to close Düsseldorf and Mülheim factories in Germany by the end of 2023 and relocate the production of steel tubes to Brazil putting 2,500 jobs at stake
Employees and German steel worker union IG Metall have made numerous attempts to prevent the closure. It was only on 23 May that almost 1,000 employees drove to the company headquarters in Paris in 18 buses. They were on the road for more than 24 hours in order to personally bring their demands to the company management. IG Metall’s General Works Council Chairman Mr Vilson Gegic has described the mood in the Vallourec plants after the company announced the closure of the two German locations in Düsseldorf and Mülheim this week. He said “The jobs of 2,500 employees are therefore on the verge of disappearing. The workforce is now paying for the failure of the managers. The employer plans to close by the end of 2023, that's how long it will take for the plants in Brazil to be converted and certified. But the group did the calculation without us employees. That still has to be discussed with us as the works council as to when the last person here will leave the plant. The workforce is behind us. We showed that in Paris.”IG Metall’s Düsseldorf Works Council head Mr Alexander Szlieszus said “We went to Paris to ask for clarity. We wanted to know if the works would be sold or not. When the plants were closed, we called for negotiations and ultimately a proper social wage agreement. A possible sale of the works is still in the air until the beginning of this week. However, there are strong doubts from the workers' side that these attempts were credible. In fact, the market for oil and natural gas, for which the German locations produce steel tubes, is very tight. Even before the Russian war of aggression, which aggravated the situation, it was foreseeable that finite resources were limited and the market was changing. We have long been on the mat with the top management with the demand to convert production to the market of renewable energies. We could manufacture various products in this area without any problems. Likewise parts for bridge construction.”Mr Szlieszus added “But the company seems to want a quick profit. The closure is mainly justified with the economic difficulties in Vallourec. However, the headquarters in France has repeatedly made it clear to the plants in Germany that their production should be relocated to the Brazilian plant. At the same time, the factory premises here in the north of Düsseldorf are worth a lot. It becomes obvious that management is more interested in quick profits than in the future of the employees.”IG Metall Düsseldorf-Neuss Managing Director Mr Karsten Kaus said “The sales process was a farce and we doubt that the proposed continuation concept was even examined in detail. Together with a management consultancy, the general works council and IG Metall had previously developed a continuation concept on their own initiative, which was intended to create future prospects with new products. We continue to demand guaranteed job security, investments in the locations and a sustainable industrial concept as well as severance pay and exit programs in the event of necessary staff reductions if the plants are unavoidably closed. And if we can't get any further by talking, then everything is ready for the labor dispute. The management will notice that we don't let everything be done with us.”IG Metall’s Mülheim Works Council Chaiman Mr Ousama Bouarous said “In Mülheim, too, the workforce is resolute. We won't give up now. This is our last labor dispute and we will not make it easy for the employers. We will put a lot of pressure on the workforce with our demands and will only stop once we have agreed on a collective wage agreement that we can live with. We built the company and thus ensured that the group could expand in the first place. With the relocation to Brazil, the employees of the two plants now expect that the company management will take this into account.”Meudon France headquartered global seamless pipe leader announced in January-March result update that it plans to close Düsseldorf and Mülheim factories in Germany by the end of 2023 and relocate the production of steel tubes to Brazil putting 2,500 jobs at stake
