One day before a planned major demonstration by the steelworkers at Thyssenkrupp, the Executive Board of the entire Group is going on the offensive.

The management rejects the accusation of the employee representatives and IG Metall that they were ignored in the planned investment of the Czech EPCG in Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, the Group explained on Monday. "This was never the case and is not intended in the future." CEO Miguel Lopez also emphasized that compulsory redundancies should be avoided. Company agreements and collective agreements remain valid.

IG Metall and the works council have called for a protest demonstration in front of the steel subsidiary's administration building in Duisburg at around 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. The news on Friday morning that the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky was taking over 20 percent of the shares in Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe had hit like a bomb, according to the call for the demonstration. Lopez and Supervisory Board Chairman Siegfried Russwurm had once again circumvented co-determination and deliberately offended the employees. "We are not being informed by these gentlemen any more than the law requires," criticized Tekin Nasikkol, Chairman of the General Works Council. This is more than a provocation for a traditionally co-determined company like thyssenkrupp: "It is a calculated declaration of war."

(Report by Tom Käckenhoff. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)