The representatives of the UK-based steelmaker Liberty Steel Group and the Czech Republic-based steelmaker Liberty Ostrava management have signed an agreement with the local steelworks trade unions on the future of Ostrava steelworks, investment, production and employment. This new union agreement will extend the collective agreement until 2023.
“We do realize the significance of the mill for the Ostrava region as well as the whole country and we want to further develop the steel production here and invest in it,” said Jon Bolton, CEO of Liberty Steel Continental Europe.
With the agreement, the minimum level of annual steel production and provisions for maintaining Ostrava steelworks will be settled, and the agreement will contain commitments of the new owner to maintain employment and labour and social standards for workers. Liberty Ostrava stated, “The agreement will include the commitment to buy the TAMEK Czech power plant, which has remained in the possession of the joint venture of the former owner ArcelorMittal and the Polish energy group Tauron, and which provides the steelworks with all the media needed for steel production.”