Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) has announced that Martin Stillger, the head of its materials services trading unit, will step down at the end of May. The resignation has drawn criticism from Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, which believes the decision was forced by Thyssenkrupp’s group CEO, Miguel Lopez.
The materials services trading unit accounted for more than a third of Thyssenkrupp’s total revenue in the 2022/23 fiscal year, with sales of 13.6 billion euros ($14.8 billion). Thyssenkrupp stated that Stillger’s resignation was his own decision, but IG Metall’s Ingo Kloetzer, who is also the deputy chairman of Materials Services’ supervisory board, disagreed.
“We are assuming a personnel change that was obviously forced by group CEO Miguel Lopez,” Kloetzer said. Thyssenkrupp and Thyssenkrupp Materials Services declined to comment on the IG Metall’s statements.
IG Metall is already in conflict with Thyssenkrupp CEO Lopez and Supervisory Board Chairman Siegfried Russwurm over recent decisions made despite labor opposition. The union believes that Materials Services is successful, and there is no business-related reason for Stillger’s separation.
“Materials Services is successful. From a business perspective, there is no reason for a separation (from Stillger),” Kloetzer said. “Group CEO Lopez obviously has expectations that cannot be fulfilled in the current market situation.”
The union’s criticism also extends to Thyssenkrupp’s recent decision to sell 20% of its steel division to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, despite labor representatives voting against the move. The decision was pushed through with Chairman Russwurm’s vote counting twice in a stalemate on the 20-member board, a tactic Kloetzer fears could be repeated in the Materials Services board’s efforts to find a successor for Stillger.