ThyssenKrupp Steel Welcomes Agreement of Collective Bargaining Parties in the Steel Industry

ThyssenKrupp Steel AG has welcomed the agreement reached by the collective bargaining parties in the steel industry, preventing a strike. Social peace has been maintained and major harm to the German economy has been prevented. Industrial action would have severely dented hopes of an urgently needed economic turnaround. After long intensive negotiations, a compromise 12-month deal involving a 3.5 percent wage increase from September 1, 2005 and a once-only payment of 500 euros for the months April to August has been accepted.

The special payment in particular is an instrument which takes into account the high volatility of the steel industry. In the past two fiscal years ThyssenKrupp Steel has already made voluntary payments of 250 euros and 500 euros per employee, and other German steel companies have paid similar amounts. This was ThyssenKrupp Steel`s way of recognizing the continuous upswing of recent years. Fiscal year 2003/2004, which was dominated by the boom in China, was the first time that the Steel segment had actually created value for the ThyssenKrupp Group. None of the experts worldwide had predicted a steel boom on this scale. In the current economic environment ThyssenKrupp Steel regards the settlement as painful and just about justifiable in order not to jeopardize supplies to customers.

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