Saarland steelworkers take ‘Walk of Steel’ to Brussels

Workers’ representatives from the steel industry in Germany’s Saarland will take part in a ‘Walk of Steel’ to Brussels to flag up issues in the sector to the European Commission.

The march has been conceived and organised by the works council of Saarstahl, but will be joined by representatives of Dillinger Hütte, Stahlwerk Bous and user companies such as Ford. The march is scheduled to take ten days from 31 January to 10 February, starting in Völklingen and proceeding via Belval in Luxembourg and Namur in Belgium. Currently, 100 people are expected to participate, who will take regular holidays for the campaign, a spokeswoman for the works council tells Kallanish.

In Brussels, the organisers will hand a list of demands to Frans Timmermans, EC vice-president responsible for the Commission’s work on the European Green Deal.

Among other things, the demands include a ‘green border tax’ on imported steel made under lower environmental standards, and subsidies to help the European industry in its efforts to de-carbonise. The social and ecological transformation of the industry should not be carried out in a way that the workforce will be victims, says Saarstahl’s works council chairman, Stephan Ahr.