Košice-based steelworks U.S. Steel objected on Tuesday (24 Sept) to the statement made on the previous day by Košice governor Rastislav Trnka. Trnka had offered on behalf of the Košice self-governing region (KSK) to buy the steel factory for one euro so as to prevent the consequences of negative developments at the steelworks, in particular further redundancies. He had compared his offer with one made by the Serbian city of Smederevo, where a steelworks was bought by the public sector for one dollar. In Tuesday's response, U.S. Steel Košice management characterised Trnka's statement as unprofessional and expressed great concern about it, while confirming that the 'factory' is not for sale. "We consider the Košice governor's procedure in this to be unfair and offensive both to the management of U.S. Steel Košice and to all its employees. We want to reassure our employees as well as the public that U.S. Steel Košice will continue to focus on its business strategy, everyday safe performance of work, protection of our environment, and the production of high-quality steel for our customers," reads the company's statement provided by its public relations manager Ľubomíra Šoltésová.
The controversy began with U.S. Steel Košice's recent announcement that it plans 2,500 redundancies by 2021 due to the unfavourable situation on the steel market. The company currently employs about 12,000 people in the region, but it's position in the steel market has been weakened in recent times due to multiple factors, leading to the planned redundancies. One such factor is the current trade war between China and the U.S., which has purportedly resulted in the dumping of a lot of cheap Chinese steel on the European market. According to a statement made by Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) last week, another factor is that the company has been suffering from investment deficit. "The American management should bear in mind that the Slovak factory has served them well as a dairy cow and instead of properly investing in it, they did not do so," stated Pellegrini. A third factor is reportedly that the EU has introduced so-called environmental taxes for local steel producers.
