The Empire Strikes Back: The Town, the Factory, the Strike—Reprise

Abstract

In 2005 ThyssenKrupp again proposed closing the magnetic steel division and other sectors of the steelworks. The workers responded as militantly as the year before, but the solidarity of the town was much lower, the unions were divided, the Church less supportive. The final compromise saved jobs but accepted the closing of the magnetic steel division. Workers were divided: some were relieved at saving their livelihood; others were angry at what they perceived as the gutting of the factory’s heart, a sign of the increasing powerlessness of the unions, and the inanity of politics.