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The steel group Arcelor went ahead, on the 26th April, with the closure of the last but one active blast furnace in the Liège steel producing area (East of Belgium). This is the first implementation of the decision taken by Arcelor to close the 'hot phases' of its continental sites, which are less competitive than those situated near the sea. The closure of the last blast furnace in the Liège region is scheduled for 2009.
One last flow of steel emerged from blast furnace 6 (HF6) at Seraing, on the 26th April this year, almost fifty years after its inauguration. The closing of this blast furnace will not entail redundancies, as such, since the 350 workers on the site should be re-employed in the more competitive 'cold phase', which the Arcelor management has committed itself to developing in Liège (see BE0302301N, BE0305301N, BE0306303F).
The closure of this facility was, nevertheless felt as a bitter blow for this steel region, which is one of the oldest in Europe and, before the radical restructuring of the 1980s, the region had more than 14 blast furnaces in operation. This is felt all the more so, since a great many jobs are at risk at the Arcelor sub-contractors in the region. On the 26th April, about 150 workers took part in a peaceful 'funeral procession'. Wearing black arm bands, they laid a wreathe at the foot of the statue to John Cockerill (1790-1840), the father of the Liège steel industry, which dominates the centre of Seraing.
The blast furnace, HF6, should have closed on the 30th June. However, on the 25th March, one year after having officially confirmed the closure in June, the Arcelor management had announced the premature closure of the facility for 'exceptional economic reasons'. The reason given was that Arcelor Plats Carbone had to reduce its output on the European market. This reduction in production affected the continental sites and particularly Bremen and Eko Stahl, in Germany, the AC B site in Biscaye (France) and Liège.
For the workers, this announcement had had the effect of a sledge hammer blow. 'It is not so much that two months make a huge difference but there is a problem at the level of confidence in the relationship. Arcelor has made a first knife slash in the contract' had been the comment of Jean-Luc Rader from the Belgian General Federation of Labour Metal (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique Section Métal/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond Metaalindustrie Centrale, FGTB/ABVV), amongst others. Finally, following several meetings, the Arcelor management, the trade unions and the representatives of the Walloon government had concluded an agreement with eight points, on the 19th April, which confirmed the agreement reached in 2003. So, the Arcelor management confirmed that the closure of the hot phase (conversion of the ore to cast iron, then into steel, as well as the hot lamination process) would take place during the course of 2009. They also confirmed that the investment in the cold processes would take place. The investment of EUR 27 million in combining the pickling installation with the rolling mill will be launched during the course of the second half of 2005 and will be completed in 2006. There will be an industrial investment in a vacuum plasma coating process in Liège, in autumn 2006, once the prototype has been assessed.
The plan is that there will be economic redeployment to accompany the closure of the Cockerill hot phase. Despite the fact that the organisation was set up two years ago, when the closure was announced the results on the ground have not been very apparent. In terms of employment, the company Sodie, which is involved in the economic development of SMEs, was given a mandate by Arcelor to foster the creation of 2,700 jobs. On the 22nd March, 271 jobs had been created. In economic terms, the Liège authorities have set up the Group for Economic Redeployment (Groupement de Redéploiement Economique, GRE) in June 2004. A property management company (Soligest) was set up, last March, to manage the cleaning up programme and conversion of the approximately 300 hectares of industrial waste land which will be left at Seraing. The structure exists, but up to now it has not generated much in the way of results. Recently, Ecolo (French-speaking environmentalists) and also the workers were very critical of the situation. 'Things are being done, but everything is moving far too slowly. We hope that the politicians will understand our message. Otherwise, we will not hesitate to bring it to the attention of the political world and the Arcelor management again', said Jean-Luc Rader (FGTB/ABVV métal).
Moreover, the Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre démocrate humaniste, CDH), which is a member of the coalition government in Wallonia, posed the question recently regarding the interest that the Walloon Region had in maintaining its shareholding in Arcelor. Given the announcement of the premature closure of blast furnace 6, it no longer seems to have much control over the decisions taken by the steel group, declared the leader of the group, Michel de Lamotte, during a plenary session of the Walloon parliament. 'Can one really claim that this tiny 3.2% holding allows the Region to really defend its interests and those of the workers within the multinational company Arcelor? It seems to me that just asking the question provides the answer. It is very clear that this shareholding gives the Region neither more control over the management of the company nor even more information on the decisions it takes', he declared before asking for 'more reflection on this subject'. On his side, the leader of the (French-speaking) Reform Party (Mouvement réformateur, MR) (opposition), Serge Kubla, repeated his advocacy in favour of the sale of these shares. 'We are led to believe that holding these shares allows us to influence the outcome of events. This is illusory. Recent events have clearly shown this', he explained. The ex Walloon Economics Minister pointed out that the Arcelor share value had increased considerably over recent months. Selling the shares would, he said, produce some EUR 400 million, which could be put to good use in the economic redeployment in the Liège region. Although the CDH has opened the discussion on the sale of the Arcelor shares, its partner in government, the (French-speaking) Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS) stuck firmly to its position. The Economics Minister, Jean-Claude Marcourt, repeated his opposition to such an initiative. 'I confirm that I have no intention of disposing of the Region’s shareholding. It is not at the time when we are in discussions with the board of directors of the group regarding the restoration of a climate of confidence that we should sell', affirmed Mr Marcourt.
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