GERMAN STEEL INDUSTRY TO SEEK LAY-OFF FUNDS
The West German Government will be asked
June 16 to provide nearly 850 million marks (470 million
dollars) to lay off or retrain 20,000 steel workers whose jobs
are threatened by the recent slump in the country's steel
industry.
    Government spokesman Friedhelm Ost said Chancellor Helmut
Kohl will review a joint proposal by steel employers and trade
unions at a meeting on the ailing industry tomorrow.
    Both steel employers and union leaders are expected to tell
Kohl tomorrow that the Government has failed to do enough to
protect German steel firms from subsidies and unfair
competition from other European Community members.
    Government sources said Bonn was prepared to take part in a
common effort to find a solution for the steelworkers. But
since the Government is struggling to finance tax cuts by
slashing state subsidies, it is not prepared to pick up the
whole bill for the layoffs, the sources said.
    A spokesman for IG Metall, the metalworkers' trade union,
said the proposal seeks redundancy payments to 10,000 workers
in Ruhr and Rhineland plants. Some 6,000 workers would be
redeployed in non-steel making sectors of steel companies,
while a further 4,000 would be eligible for job-retraining
schemes.
    The union estimates that the redundancy payments would
total 600 million marks (340 million dollars), while job
retraining schemes would cost a further 240 million marks (130
million dollars).
    Up to 30,000 West German steel jobs are at risk in the next
few years following steep losses incurred by the industry since
mid-1986.
    Extensive restructuring of the industry in recent years was
unable to compensate for the effects of the weak dollar which
depressed foreign demand for steel, industry sources said.
 Reuter
