ArcelorMittal: enough is enough

A new investor brief, based on worker testimony from multiple countries and recounting company failures in Kazakhstan, Mexico, Brazil, Liberia, the USA and across Europe, exposes a stark and consistent gap between what ArcelorMittal says and what workers experience. The picture that emerges is not of isolated failures but of a company-wide pattern of putting short-term financial gain above the safety, rights and futures of its workforce.

A decade of preventable deaths

Central to the day of action is ArcelorMittal’s catastrophic safety record. Between 2013 and 2023, over 300 workers died at ArcelorMittal operations worldwide. The investor brief makes clear these deaths are not the unavoidable result of working in a dangerous industry, they are the consequence of a company that consistently fails to invest in its infrastructure, engage meaningfully with trade unions on occupational safety and learn from tragedy.

In October 2023, a fire at ArcelorMittal’s Kostenko coal mine in Kazakhstan killed 46 workers, the country’s worst industrial accident since independence. SteelWatch later reported the company left Kazakhstan with billions of dollars in unresolved health damages, having faced demands to compensate victims and families for nearly 30 years of deaths and injuries. An investor report at the time called the fire: unfortunately not surprising, given the company’s record.

In June 2025, a preventable boiler explosion at ArcelorMittal’s power plant in Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico, the result of years of deferred maintenance, killed a supervisor and seriously injured a worker. The company had repeatedly patched boiler leaks rather than addressing underlying equipment failures. Production was halted for over six months.

In Brazil, IndustriALL affiliate CNM-CUT reports 22 workplace accident reports registered with the local union in the past year alone, alongside numerous near-misses including crane failures, molten steel spills, ruptured pressurised pipes and falling heavy loads. Workers describe a culture of fear, stagnating wages and deteriorating equipment across multiple plants.

This is not a new crisis. In 2024, IndustriALL and industriAll European Trade Union staged a global day of action calling on ArcelorMittal to stop deaths at work.

The situation has not improved.

Silencing workers’ voices

The investor brief documents a consistent pattern of union avoidance and disregard for social dialogue across ArcelorMittal’s global operations.

In Europe, the company has repeatedly sidelined its European works council (EWC), failing to consult it on major restructuring decisions in violation of both EU law and its own EWC agreement. The situation became so untenable that in March 2026 the EWC was forced to demand mediation. European trade unions describe the company’s approach as gaslighting, claiming to inform the EWC while not doing so at all.

In Liberia, ArcelorMittal has failed to hold its security contractor SEGAL to basic labour standards, despite SEGAL workers joining IndustriALL affiliate United Workers Union of Liberia (UWUL) in April 2025. When SEGAL workers staged a peaceful protest in October 2025, 16 of them were beaten and arrested on SEGAL’s orders. Twelve security guards fired weeks after joining the union have not been reinstated, despite a ministry of labour order to do so.

“You allow someone in your house to violate laws and you don’t take action; you are complicit in that,” United Workers Union of Liberia.

In the USA, members of the United Steelworkers were forced into a 69-day strike , the longest in Local 3057’s history at ArcelorMittal’s Shelby, Ohio facility before securing a fair agreement on wages, retirement benefits and healthcare. As the union pointed out, the strike was not about wages. It was about quality of life.

 

Cutting jobs in profitable operations

Despite its European operations making a major contribution to group earnings, with steady sales performance between 2022 and 2025 and a low debt ratio, ArcelorMittal has been rolling out sweeping job cuts across the continent.

In a first wave of restructuring in 2025, between 1,145 and 1,400 full-time equivalent positions were offshored to the company’s AM/NS joint venture in India. In January 2026, ArcelorMittal announced a second wave of 5,000 to 6,000 additional support jobs to be offshored. IndustriALL estimates that country-level production job cuts across Europe add a further 3,000 positions. This means up to nearly one-third of ArcelorMittal’s entire European workforce is at risk.

These changes are being made without genuine consultation with trade unions or the EWC. And the offshoring destination, ArcelorMittal’s AM/NS joint venture in India, is itself characterised by union avoidance, heavy reliance on subcontracting and persistent resistance to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Abandoning climate commitments

ArcelorMittal’s carbon footprint is comparable to that of a small country such as Belgium. The brief argues that the company has a critical role to play in the transition to clean steel and that it is choosing not to play it.

Despite receiving over €3 billion (US$3.24 billion) in public subsidies for decarbonization across Europe and beyond, ArcelorMittal has, according to SteelWatch, not taken a single final investment decision on any of its five announced direct reduced iron (DRI) projects in Europe and Canada. In 2025, the company withdrew from a decarbonisation project in Germany that had €1.3 billion(US$1.4 billion) in state subsidies attached to it.

At the same time, the company spent only US$800 million on decarbonization between 2021 and 2024 while returning US$12 billion to shareholders in dividends and buybacks. SteelWatch has accused the company of backtracking on its climate commitments and abdicating its role as an industry leader.

“ArcelorMittal could be leading the way instead of blaming economic uncertainty for its delay. This is not climate leadership, it’s a strategic retreat,” SteelWatch

 

A message to investors

This brief is directed not only at the public but at ArcelorMittal’s shareholders, who the union argues have both the right and the responsibility to hold the company to account.

It identifies seven areas for investor engagement, including social dialogue, the EWC, occupational health and safety, job cuts in Europe, decarbonization, transparency and reporting and the equal treatment of contractors. It argues that the company’s failures in each of these areas expose it to significant legal, operational, financial and reputational risks.

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle, Høie says: “ArcelorMittal is a profitable company making deliberate choices: to cut jobs, ignore safety and walk away from its climate commitments. Workers are paying the price. Enough is enough.”

“With the EU Steel and Metals Action Plan in place, a supportive policy framework, solid financial results and massive public support, ArcelorMittal has no justification for standing still on investment in decarbonisation. Investing in decarbonisation means investing in decent union jobs, skills and the long‑term future of steel in Europe — and the company must now do its part,” said Judith Kirton‑Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe,” says Jude Kirton-Darling, general secretary, industriAll European Trade Union.

Taking the fight to the AGM

To demand action, IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union will be present at ArcelorMittal’s AGM in Luxembourg on 5 May 2026, staging a global day of action. Trade unionists and worker representatives from across the company’s global operations will be there to make clear that these failures can no longer be ignored, by the company or its investors.

The action is backed by the detailed investor brief outlining seven key areas for shareholder engagement.

Global day of action: 5 May 2026, 10:00 CET | 24–26 Boulevard d’Avranches, Luxembourg