DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -IG Metall, Germany's largest union, warned Thyssenkrupp (ETR:TKAG) on Tuesday against taking shortcuts in its ongoing efforts to restructure and sell the group's steel division.
Knut Giesler, who heads the union in Thyssenkrupp's home state of North-Rhine Westphalia said it would be "unacceptable" for the steel unit to devise its own turnaround plan.
His comments come a day after the steel unit's chair said a turnaround plan would be presented in April and that neither production cuts nor layoffs could be ruled out.
"It is not acceptable to place the problem solely with the management board and co-determination of the steel division," Giesler said in a statement.
He said framework conditions needed to be created by Thyssenkrupp, alluding to efforts to make Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky to a 50% co-owner of the steel division, in a deal which sources said may require financial sacrifices.
German business daily Handelsblatt said that because of the bleak prospects Thyssenkrupp's steel unit was planning a new 400 million euro ($434 million) savings programme that comes on top of a group-wide 2 billion euro effort to bring down costs.
Thyssenkrupp declined to comment.
Giesler said the steel business needed an industrial concept that was sound structurally as well as financially, a challenge given its pension liabilities of around 3 billion euros.
"This constant back and forth must come to an end. Moreover, politicians must also be involved in finding solutions for these far-reaching changes and not just remain on the sidelines," he added.
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