Belgium: overview of the failed negotiations for the restructurings of ArcelorMittal Liege

The survival of the steel industry in Liege at stake.  On November 19, almost all the workers at ArcelorMittal Liege rejected the proposals that arose with social dialogue.  For its part, the  management deplored this rejection and published a press release asserting that it was the only way to limit layoffs as much as possible.  Then, it called on the trade unions to make a decision on the social plan within 48 hours.  This is the last episode of a story which started in October 2011, when the management of ArcelorMittal Liege announced that it intended to permanently close the liquid phase of the site in Liege, leading to 795 job cuts.  One year later, on October 3, after the agreement on Stage 1 of the Renault Act (preliminary information and consultation), the trade unions and the management opened talks within the framework of Stage 2 of that same procedure, on the industrial and social chapters.  About the industrial phase, the management proposed to invest €138 million into 5 priority sites for the cold line (out of 12).  Operations on the other sites will depend on market conditions.  For their part, unions wanted the activity – and therefore the jobs – to be maintained on all the sites, along with the guarantee for the Liege site of 3 million tons supplied and of maintaining cold steel.  Negotiations on the social chapter were about early retirement age: unions wanted early retirement to be called “unemployment with company supplementary” at 52.  The company proposed 55.