Germany's IG Metall union calls on Thyssenkrupp to be transparent

Germany's powerful IG Metall trade union called on Thursday for transparency from management at Thyssenkrupp during increasingly troubled times for the country's traditional heavy industry.

"We know and see that the company is in a serious situation," IG Metall deputy head Jürgen Kerner said in Bochum in the heart of the industrial Ruhr Region. Kerner also sits on Thyssenkrupp's supervisory board as deputy chairman.

"We continue to need cooperation between the shareholders, the executive and the worker participation side," Kerner said ahead of Friday's shareholders' meeting.

The meeting is the first under CEO Miguel López, who took over in June last year. Relations between IG Metall and López are seen as strained since a November decision – opposed opposed by the union – to expand the supervisory board by two members.

The company, which traces its roots to the early 19th century and currently has a staff complement of some 100,000, is in upheaval, with consideration being given to splitting steel and shipbuilding, the two main units.

Kerner said that employees were ready to enter into fundamental discussions with the executive and shareholders.

"We have indicated repeatedly that when one is prepared to meet with us as equals, we do not reject any solutions," he said.

For example, the union was prepared to discuss the sale of the shipbuilding unit. "But we naturally have the attitude that we shape this process together," the union boss said.

IG Metall plans to distribute a flyer to shareholders on Friday, accusing the executive of "aimlessness." A lack of investment and ambiguous strategies are jeopardizing the company's future, it says, adding that many of the problems are of the company's own making.

"Mr López has promised to put the business back on course, but he acts without transparency," the union says.