Thyssenkrupp's deputy chairman votes against new CEO contract due to 'fundamental distrust'

T hyssenkrupp’s deputy chairman, who sold a stake in the steel unit to billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, will vote against extending the contract of Miguel Lopez on Friday. He said he hadn’t delivered the turnaround promised of the steel division.

Juergen Kerner's comments, made by one of Germany's leading labour representatives, are a significant escalation of the conflict between workers and management over the restructuring of the German conglomerate, notably the iconic steel division that the group has been trying to divest from for years.

Sources said last week that the supervisory board of Thyssenkrupp will meet on Friday to vote for a planned spinoff of its warships division TKMS, as well as a contract renewal for Lopez, who has been in charge since two years ago.

Kerner warned that there would be a massive backlash if Lopez’s contract extension was approved against the wishes of workers representatives. This can only occur if former Siemens manager Siegfried Russell casts a decisive decision.

Kerner, the deputy chief of Germany’s largest union IG Metall who sits also on the supervisory board of Siemens, Siemens Energy, and Traton said that despite establishing a working relationship with Lopez, "we have now a fundamental distrust on both sides".

He warned that workers would use all means available to them, including strikes, if Thyssenkrupp failed to present a convincing plan for the future of the steel division, and secure sufficient funding. These were, he said, red lines. (Reporting and editing by Tom Kaeckenhoff and Christoph Steitz)

(source: Reuters)