Struggling steelworkers rally in Germany to demand state support

German steelworkers rallied in Berlin on Friday in an effort to rouse government support for the crisis-hit sector. 

Protesters marched from the Brandenburg Gate to the Economy Ministry. The IG Metall trade union said around 1,700 workers from more than 40 companies took part, while police put the figure at 900.

Another 8,500 steel workers demonstrated in the western city of Völklingen, according to police estimates.

The union is demanding greater political support for the struggling steel industry, which is suffering from an economic slowdown, high US tariffs on steel and competition from cheap steel imports, particularly from Asia.

In 2025, output at Germany's steel industry - concentrated above all in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saarland - fell to 34.1 million tons of crude steel, the lowest level since the financial crisis of 2009.

IG Metall also warned against weakening climate targets in Europe and jeopardizing the industry's transition to carbon-neutral steel. 

"We want to produce green steel; our steelworks will become climate-neutral as far as possible. But politics must consistently create the conditions for that to happen," said Jürgen Kerner, the union's deputy chairman.

Kerner warned against calling into question the European emissions trading scheme, which is due to come under review at EU level in July. Doing so would put "tens of thousands of jobs at risk," he said.

At the same time, he said, companies that cannot shoulder the investment in climate-friendly production alone need support.

In Berlin, the steelworkers received support from Germany's Green and Left parties.

“This is about the future of our businesses and our workforces, and it’s about ensuring that we produce in such a way that our children and grandchildren will also have a planet worth living on and a future worth living,” Greens co-leader Felix Banaszak said.

Ines Schwerdtner, leader of The Left party, stressed that "steel is systemically important."

The crisis in the sector has not been caused by the workers but is the result of inadequate support for the transition to climate-friendly production, Schwerdtner argued

The government has already set in motion an industrial electricity price for energy-intensive sectors such as the steel industry. EU member states have also agreed protective measures to shield the domestic steel sector from competition. 

But IG Metall says this does not go far enough. The union criticized the industrial electricity price for being time-limited, subject to a financing caveat and limited in compensating for high energy costs.