Jan Berghuis
“You have to start with the people”
He joined the company as a machinist and left as a works council member and trade unionist. The mass strike of 1973 — with its historic slogan, “Not percentages, but cents” — marked the beginning of his union involvement.
“It was a legendary strike — fierce, with the workers standing up to management. That was what fired me up as a trade unionist.”
From then on, Jan viewed Tata Steel Netherlands — then still Koninklijke Hoogovens — from two perspectives: the work itself and everything behind it. Safety, health, reorganisations.
His career followed the classic path of a Hoogovens employee: starting on day shifts, then switching to shift work when the children came along, for the thirty per cent pay supplement. But his real talent lay elsewhere.
“I’m better at talking about technology than actually working with it,” he says with a hearty laugh.
As a member of the works council, he helped oversee reorganisations, negotiated social plans and saw thousands of colleagues leave through voluntary schemes, avoiding the need for mass redundancies. That process continued after his departure. Automation, shifts in corporate strategy, crises in the steel industry — and constant cuts to the workforce. The IJmuiden steelworks once employed 22,000 people; today, that figure is around 8,500.
Together with his brother Roel, who was also active in the union, he formed an inseparable duo for many years. They became known as the “Rode Berghuisjes” — the “Red Berghuis brothers” — men who stood outside the management offices with a megaphone, calling on their colleagues to take action. Both held senior positions within the FNV trade union, where they fought for social justice — inside and outside the steelworks.
Their union work was never confined to the site. During the 1980s, they and their union campaigned strongly against South Africa’s apartheid regime, a position they defended with conviction in meetings and pamphlets.
“It wasn’t only about our rights,” Jan says, “but about solidarity with everyone who was worse off.”
He still carries that sense of social responsibility with him. Today, he is involved in supporting asylum seekers in the region.
“In the past, we spoke out about what was happening beyond the factory gates,” he says. “That is something I sometimes miss in the trade unions today.”
He believes in the union as a practical tool. During his time there, improvements in workplace health and safety were often achieved through pressure from within.
That is why he regrets that no real alliance ever emerged between the trade union and the health campaign groups in Wijk aan Zee, such as Frisse Wind, Gezondheid op 1 and the Wijk aan Zee Village Council.
“They would be much stronger if they joined forces,” Jan says.
“Not everyone acting separately, but together — speaking with one voice to management. Only then can you force real change.”
The Village Council did, in fact, make several attempts to win the FNV’s support. The union rejected these overtures. Jan considers this a missed opportunity, although he believes there may still be a chance to forge an alliance.
He is both convinced by and concerned about the transition to green steel. He sees the direction — away from coal and towards green hydrogen — as inevitable, but considers its implementation precarious.
“There are too many managers and too few engineers. The whole factory has become one big Anglo-Saxon bureaucracy.”
Meanwhile, the company’s administrative and financial power lies in Mumbai.
His proposal is clear: any state support should come with a say in how the company is run.
“If we invest billions, the state should receive shares and veto rights in return.”
He says closing the steelworks would be disastrous — economically, socially and for the entire region. The network of technical companies surrounding IJmuiden would fall like dominoes.
He feels little nostalgia, but a strong sense of community. The old cooperative approach to employment has weakened, yet it can still be felt throughout the region — and in the canteen conversations with which he always began his working day.
Steel, coke plants, plans for the future, cutbacks — all well and good, but:
“You have to start with people. Not in the boardroom.”
Now retired, he is a member of Zeester, a think tank of former executives, trade union officials, scientists and technical experts who jointly developed a plan for a future-proof steel complex in IJmuiden. One major achievement is that the steelworks has adopted Zeester’s green-steel plan as its only viable path towards the future. Now it must be implemented. That is the crucial part.
He still takes on occasional projects with a clear beginning and end, but continues to follow everything happening at Hoogovens closely.
“There is so much mistrust,” he says. “But somehow, it all has to come together again.”
He smiles briefly.
“Perhaps it simply begins with a conversation — or with someone who is still willing to listen.”