2023-12-01 05:15:00
The management of ArcelorMittal intends to undertake a cut of 400 jobs as a result of the upcoming replacement of the current Gijón steel plant with a hybrid electric furnace. The adjustment would affect workers born in 1963 and 1962 and would be applied in various plants in Spain, although the bulk of the cut will occur in the workforce in Asturias. This was communicated yesterday by the company in Etxebarri (Vizcaya) to the unions that are members of the steel company’s employment table.
The departure of personnel born in 1962 through the contract-relay formula is a union demand, as was already done with workers born before that date. However, the company rejects maintaining the contract-relay route because it would entail the hiring of substitute personnel, when the company’s intention is to reduce its workforce as a result of the automation and digitalization of the processes that the new green facilities that it plans to entail will entail. the decarbonization of the steel process in its integral headquarter in Asturias.
The company proposed as an alternative to the relief contract the application of an ERE (employment regulation file) to terminate previous aid and another with extraordinary aid. According to the management of the multinational, the economic and social conditions that were agreed upon with the workers who abandoned the activity could be better than those that have been applied in the last waves of departure of personnel through a relief contract and that guaranteed at least the 85% of the gross salary of the last year worked.
The decarbonization plan will lead to the loss of 1,000 jobs in total if the DRI is carried out
ArcelorMittal plans to eliminate 1,000 of its 5,000 direct jobs in Asturias as a result of the planned replacement of the conventional Gijón steelworks with a hybrid electric furnace and the replacement of one of the blast furnaces with a direct reduction iron ore (DRI) furnace. through the use of green hydrogen. This last action, which is the largest of the two planned for the Veriña plant (Gijón) for a combined amount of 1,000 million euros, is pending approval by the multinational despite the fact that the Spanish Government (with prior authorization from the European Commission) already committed a public subsidy for this installation of 450 million on April 4.
On the contrary, the new Gijón steel plant or hybrid electric furnace was approved by the multinational’s investment committee in July and this week the company announced the hiring of engineering to carry out the project. The civil works will begin to be carried out in the next quarter and the new equipment will begin to produce low-CO2 steel in the last quarter of 2025, according to the planned schedule. The adjustment of 400 jobs is, therefore, the first phase of the planned cut pending confirmation of the approval of the DRI.
In the case of Asturias, the measure will be applied in various workshops and facilities, as well as foreseeably in structural personnel. The current Gijón steelworks employs just over 300 people.
UGT again demanded today that the DRI plant be approved and considered it “disproportionate” to link the adjustment of 400 jobs announced yesterday to the replacement of the steel mill. This union said that an agreement will not be possible “as long as a certain number of indefinite contracts for temporary staff are not guaranteed.” To this end, the union proposed the formula of contract-relief or 100 permanent hires, which would leave the net workforce cut at 300 jobs.
CC OO maintains its demand that the relief contract continue to be applied (the rule is in force until December 31) and stated that it intends to “lose” this formula and maintain “eternal precariousness for the majority of potential workers.” “. The union added: “The DRI plant is neither here nor expected.”
On the other hand, yesterday a new negotiating meeting for the collective agreement was held in Asturias to apply the pacts of the VIII Framework Agreement, agreed on May 22.
DH2 plans to increase capital by 200 million for its hydrogen plans
DH2, a company that develops green hydrogen production projects, and is part of the alliance with ArcelorMittal, Fertiberia and Enagás to supply the large Asturian industry, intends to carry out a capital increase to raise 200 million that will be allocated to promote their projects in Spain. The green hydrogen that is planned to be produced in Castilla y León is essential for the decarbonization of the Asturian plants of ArcelorMittal and Fertiberia, although both also have an agreement to be supplied with the renewable gas that the alliance of Naturgy and Enagás will produce in La Robla . As reported yesterday by “Expansión”, DH2 has entrusted the Japanese investment bank Nomura with the implementation of the expansion by attracting new shareholders, who could take up to 49% of the Spanish company. DH2 sources consulted by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA declined to comment. DH2, ArcelorMittal, Fertiberia and Enagás have been founding partners since 2021 of PlatformCo Hydrogen (HyDeal Spain), the consortium for the production of green hydrogen in Castilla y León and its transport to Asturias. Two other original partners (HyDeal Ambition and Soladvent) separated in April.
The numbers
400 Jobs
Reduction that Arcelor will make due to the change of the Gijón steel plant for a hybrid furnace.
100 Jobs
Proposal for the incorporation of new workers that UGT made to the company yesterday.
300 Jobs
There are more than 300 workers at the Gijón steel mill. The adjustment will be in several plants.
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