IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union are calling on ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company by market capitalization, to immediately address serious and systemic failures on workers' rights, occupational safety, social dialogue and its climate commitments. The call comes ahead of a global day of action on 5 May 2026, when IndustriALL and industriAll European Trade Union representatives and trade unionists from around the world will mobilize in Luxembourg for ArcelorMittal's annual general meeting (AGM).

To support the day of action the unions have published a detailed investor brief based on worker testimony from multiple countries that reveals a stark gap between ArcelorMittal's public commitments and the lived reality of its workforce.

The unions are demanding ArcelorMittal take concrete action in four critical areas:

• Workers' safety and lives: Between 2013 and 2023, over 300 workers died at ArcelorMittal operations globally. In October 2023, a fire at the company's Kostenko coal mine in Kazakhstan killed 46 workers. In June 2025, after years of deferred maintenance, a preventable boiler explosion at the company's Lázaro Cárdenas plant in Mexico killed a supervisor and seriously injured a worker, forcing a production halt of more than six months. In Brazil, 22 workplace accident reports were registered with the local union in the past year alone, alongside numerous near-misses including crane failures, molten steel spills and falling heavy loads.
• Social dialogue and workers’ rights: ArcelorMittal has repeatedly sidelined its European works council (EWC), violating both EU law and its own EWC agreement, to the point where the EWC was forced to demand mediation in March 2026. In Liberia, 16 workers who staged a peaceful protest were beaten and arrested on orders from ArcelorMittal's security contractor SEGAL. In the USA, workers at ArcelorMittal's Shelby, Ohio facility were forced into the longest strike in their local union's history, 69 days, before securing a fair agreement. In India, the company’s AM/NS joint venture is characterised by union avoidance and resistance to recognition.
• Jobs and restructuring: Despite its European operations making a major contribution to group earnings, ArcelorMittal has been cutting thousands of jobs across the continent without meaningful consultation. Between 6,500 and 9,500 support and production jobs are being slashed or offshored to India, amounting to nearly one-third of the company's total European workforce. This is being done without engaging trade unions or the EWC, in violation of EU law.
• Climate commitments: ArcelorMittal has accepted over €3 billion in public subsidies for decarbonization while cancelling or postponing multiple green steel projects in Europe. The company has not taken a single final investment decision on any of its five announced direct reduced iron (DRI) projects in Europe and Canada. During 2021–2024, it spent only US$800 million on decarbonization while returning US$12 billion to shareholders in dividends and buybacks. Its carbon footprint is comparable to that of a small country such as Belgium.

These failures expose ArcelorMittal to significant legal, operational, financial and reputational risks and material risks to its investors. The Global and European Union are calling on the company's shareholders to raise these issues directly with ArcelorMittal at and beyond the AGM.

“Over 300 workers have died at ArcelorMittal operations in a decade. Thousands of jobs are being cut without consultation. Climate commitments are being abandoned while billions flow to shareholders. Investors have a right to ask why and we will be in Luxembourg on 5 May to make sure they do,” says IndustriALL General Secretary Atle Høie. 

“With the EU Steel and Metals Action Plan in place, a supportive policy framework, solid financial results and massive public support, ArcelorMittal has no justification for standing still on investment in decarbonization. Investing in decarbonization means investing in decent union jobs, skills and the long term future of steel in Europe and the company must now do its part,” said Judith Kirton Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe.