A new development in the Liberty Steel case might be on the horizon as trade unions are expecting concrete offers from three interested buyers within the next two weeks. Both the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL) and the Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (LCGB) insist that the new owner has to take over the close to 140 staff members, which they describe as motivated and ready to start work again.
Production has been offline for two and a half years and Liberty Steel employees received their last paycheck in September 2024.
“It’s hard to accept that for more than three years, problems with Liberty have been reported and communicated to every level of government, yet now we find ourselves in a more than uncertain situation”, says Hubert Lacouture, who has been working at the Dudelange plant for 30 years.
Sylviane Gambini, who has worked at the site for 39 years, echoed this lack of understanding and expressed frustration over the misplaced level of trust. She further lamented the lack of payment and unemployment benefits, noting that she is fortunately able to rely on her husband and children for support.
LCGB spokesperson Robert Fornieri labelled the staff’s motivation to continue “extremely positive” and a compelling argument for potential buyers. The market is there and clients are still interested, so a relaunch of the plant is in the realm of possible, according to Fornieri.
The OGBL’s Stejano Araujo pledged to RTL that the unions are open to fully support a takeover by a “serious” candidate who is willing to retain all current and former employees. “I think we have different tools we can use to enable a progressive relaunch of a plant”, he noted.
According to estimations, operations at the plant could be back in full swing within six months. Since galvanising is a costly procedure, furnaces were eventually emptied and now need to be refurbished and refilled.
