Trade unions call for public investment and fiscal policies to support steel sector recovery

The situation facing steel and industrial workers is the consequence of decades of poorly designed national policies that have supported excess capacity in the steel industry and promoted export-led competition at the expense of domestic demand, workers' wages, and working conditions. Trade unions call for an end to these harmful practices and for the creation of quality industrial jobs that provide fair wages, decent working conditions, and job security for all workers.

While global steel demand has plummeted, global excess capacity has hit new record high. Public intervention is needed to kick-start infrastructure projects and safeguard jobs. Austerity measures, under the pretext of fiscal responsibility, will lead to severe cuts in public spending, impacting industrial production and employment. Such measures disproportionately affect the already vulnerable - the workers who manufacture the steel and build and maintain the infrastructure that drives our economies.

Trade unions call for immediate expansionary fiscal policy and urge governments to increase the current low levels of public investment to stimulate the demand for steel. Public investment is vital for key areas like infrastructure development, technological innovation, and R&D in the steel sector. Governments must put in place necessary measures to ensure demand for good quality, green steel made by workers with decent working conditions, including through public procurement systems.

Veronica Nilsson, TUAC general secretary, said:

"We need the OECD to move away from economic reforms that wind down public investment and dismantle labour market institutions. If we want a future for the steel industry, we need to speed up investment in infrastructure, defend quality jobs and strengthen working households' purchasing power to actually consume the products we manufacture."

Christina Olivier, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary, added:

"The steelworkers who drive this industry should not be the ones paying the price for austerity measures. We demand policies that promote long-term growth, innovation, and investment in a sustainable future for steel production. Multinational companies must not focus solely on paying dividends to shareholders; they have a responsibility to contribute to the effort. Public support must come with strong social conditions, ensuring that investment in the green transition benefits workers, with good working conditions and wages, not just profits for the few."

Judith Kirton-Darling, general secretary of Industriall Europe, concluded:

"The European steel sector is in crisis with production cuts, mothballing of plants and site closures linked to record low demand and record high imports. European steel workers call for a fair level playing field and the end of a race to the bottom on lowest cost production which only puts workers against each other. We want green steel made by workers with good working conditions both in Europe and beyond, and we call on governments to invest in green steel with strong green and social conditionalities."