The steel industry in Switzerland: a tale of crisis

The steel industry holds significant value for our country. However, unlike in other nations, the federal government currently does not plan to intervene to provide economic support during this crisis. Prof. Luigi Lorenzetti, a professor at the Academy of Architecture at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and the Coordinator of the History of the Alps Study Centre - LabiSAlp, addressed this issue in an article published by Tvsvizzera.it.

The origins of the crisis in the Swiss steel sector, as explained by Professor Luigi Lorenzetti, date back to the 1970s: "The industry faced a crisis from which it never fully recovered, leading to the closure of the Monteforno plant in Bodio (a plant that opened in the Ticino municipality of Bodio in 1946) and Ferrowohlen (which opened in Wohlen, Canton Aargau, in 1955). Under pressure from the banks, Von Moos and Von Roll merged their steel production operations into Swiss Steel in 1996. In 2006, Swiss Steel was taken over by the German company Schmolz+Bickenbach AG". Subsequently, there have been several changes of ownership and company reorganisations. Nowadays, the main difficulties are "the economic situation and foreign competition".

The steelworks in Gerlafingen (Solothurn) and Emmenbrücke (Lucerne) are facing a crisis due to rising energy costs and new strict decarbonisation regulations. The state's failure to intervene in the situation can be traced back to historical factors. In Switzerland, the steel industry has a long-standing tradition of strict liberalism, which has consistently resisted state intervention. This resistance has been further supported by the country's federalist system, designed to limit the central government's influence on local politics. A glance at the past, however, shows that the Swiss economy has not always been excluded from state intervention. At the end of the 19th century and in the 1920s and 1930s, the federal government pursued an industrial policy in favour of various production sectors based on the use of instruments that included the extension of collective agreements, the control of prices and production quotas, and necessity clauses to cope with demand crises, falling prices and protectionist policies of foreign countries. Today, however, the political context is profoundly different and little inclined to public interventionism, and this threatens the survival of the steel sector: in the spring, Stahl Gerlafingen announced the dismissal of 68 employees; however, this measure proved insufficient, leading to an additional cut of 120 jobs. Recently, the multinational company Swiss Steel, based in Lucerne, announced a restructuring plan that will result in the elimination of 130 jobs in Switzerland and 800 across Europe.

The full article, written by Leonardo Spagnoli for Tvsvizzera.it and featuring Professor Luigi Lorenzetti, is available at the following link (Italian only).