Labour leaders, who hold half the seats on Thyssenkrupp’s supervisory board, will not support a planned joint venture with Tata Steel if concessions in ongoing antitrust proceedings go too far, a union representative said.
Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel are planning to combine their European steel activities to create the continent’s No 2 steelmaker after ArcelorMittal, raising concerns that far-reaching remedies are required to secure antitrust approval.
The European Commission is expected to outline its competitive concerns about the merger this week, calling on the two firms to offer compromises to avert a potential veto. “We won't support a merger at any price,” Markus Grolms, Vice-Chairman of Thyssenkrupp’s supervisory board and secretary at IG Metall, Germany’s biggest labour union, told Reuters on Wednesday. “We have always defined a red line with regard to the merger control proceedings. If this line is crossed we won't give our support.”
Grolms said Thyssenkrupp’s supervisory board, where labour representatives hold 10 of the 20 seats, would have to vote on the outcome of remedy negotiations between the company and the Commission.
They could be outvoted by Chairwoman Martina Merz, who has a casting vote in case of a draw, but this would be unprecedented and would go against Thyssenkrupp’s long-standing tradition of making large restructuring moves with labour support.