EU: ArcelorMittal unions’ mobilization led the European Commission to agree to the creation of a joint working committee in the steel industry

First steps.  The project is still in its infancy and the European Parliament is wondering whether ArcelorMittal’s representatives will agree to join this working committee.  Nevertheless, the European Commission has promised to gather the sector’s stakeholders.  Like the working committee on the future of the auto industry (CARS21), the steel working committee should work on the sector’s evolutions, try to defuse conflicts and, who knows?, lay down the foundation for a future European industrial policy.  The mandate has yet to be defined, but the Commission wants to act quickly, planning a first meeting by the end of the summer.  Unions and MEPs say this is a first victory.  On July 3, at the meeting with the European Commissioner in Strasbourg, ArcelorMittal employee representatives from France, Belgium and Luxembourg talked about the tragic consequences of the group’s financial strategy on the production tool.  In these three countries, several sites have been on halt for several months, the management giving preference to coastal sites, more profitable (see our dispatch No.  110765).  unions denounce the lack of investments from the group in 2012 and choices leading to the death of the European steel industry.
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uences of the group’s financial strategy on the production tool. In these three countries, several sites have been on halt for several months, the management giving preference to coastal sites, more profitable (see our dispatch No. 110765). unions denounce the lack of investments from the group in 2012 and choices leading to the death of the European steel industry.

Fairness. Together with representatives from IndustriALL European Trade Union, the new European federation in the manufacturing

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