Profit Over People: The ArcelorMittal Playbook

 




They call it development. We call it dispossession. From Liberia to Kazakhstan, ArcelorMittal's operations leave a trail of exploitation, broken promises, and unaddressed suffering. While credit agencies reward the company for growth and debt reduction, they turn a blind eye to the human cost—hundreds of labor abuses, environmental devastation, and ongoing acts of corporate negligence. It's time the world stopped measuring success solely by steel output and shareholder returns.
In Liberia, workers live in collapsing structures with no clean water or electricity. Trainees are forced to pay $100/month for uninhabitable rooms while promised stipends are slashed. Despite obligations in the Mineral Development Agreement, ArcelorMittal failed to build schools, provide healthcare, or meet training targets. Over 48 human rights cases have been filed—including one by a former employee whose health deteriorated after years of mistreatment. Hundreds of other abuse cases remain unacknowledged and unresolved, buried beneath the company's PR machinery.

Globally, the picture darkens. In France, ArcelorMittal faces criminal charges for forgery, pollution, and endangering lives. In Kazakhstan, the company is blamed for over 3,000 deaths caused by toxic air, with $4.2 billion in public health damages. In Mexico and Brazil, survivors report land grabs, community displacement, and intimidation. ArcelorMittal's playbook is clear: extract, deny, deflect—and repeat. Even at its Annual General Meeting, executives refused meaningful engagement until public pressure forced a closed-door meeting with community defenders.

Yet rating agencies like S&P and Fitch upgraded ArcelorMittal to BBB, citing strategic growth and improved business performance. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America remain silent, despite calls from civil society to address complicity in abuses. Glass Lewis issued a Controversy Alert ahead of the 2025 AGM but most investors still back the company, prioritizing dividends over dignity. ArcelorMittal has even removed ESG terms from a $5.5 billion credit facility, retreating from sustainability promises as scrutiny grows.
Justice demands more than audits and greenwashing. It demands accountability. Until banks, investors, and rating agencies factor ethical violations into their assessments, they remain complicit in the dispossession masked as development. 

We are not stakeholders -we are survivors. And we will not stay silent while steel is forged from exploitation.


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