Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is considering relocating thousands of jobs from Europe to India. Around 5,600 positions across 20 European countries could be affected, mainly in IT, logistics, and maintenance.
Robert Fornieri of the Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (LCGB) said in conversation with RTL that he was “not surprised, but disappointed”. He criticised what he described as the company’s approach: benefiting from European public funding to protect itself from competition, only to then take decisions that would cut or relocate thousands of jobs in pursuit of higher profits. He also confirmed the scale of the planned job transfers.
As far as jobs in Luxembourg are concerned, however, it is not yet certain that redundancies will follow. According to Fornieri, social dialogue is ongoing and sector-wide steel agreements are in place, with a new one currently being negotiated.
Within that framework, relocations are considered off limits, Fornieri said. He stressed that moving jobs abroad would contradict the spirit of a tripartite agreement, in which all parties, including the state, commit to making efforts, with the government supporting reorganisations through social measures, but not accepting the relocation of jobs.
