Around 450 Employees In Romanian ArcelorMittal Galati On Voluntary Layoffs As Of Jan 16

Approximately 450 employees of Romania's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal Galati, owned by UK-based ArcelorMittal, will leave the company as of January 16, through the voluntary layoffs program, trade unionists said Wednesday.

ArcelorMittal Galati unionists said that around 1,700 of the total 13,600 employees of the company actually filed voluntary layoff requests, stating the company would analyze the situation by the end of the month.

Employees subject to voluntary layoffs will get severance pay.

ArcelorMittal Galati currently employes half the number of people it did in the fall of 2001, when the plant was privatized. Due to the privatization clause banning layoffs for five years, the company offered financial compensations to employees willing to leave, in several stages.

In the latest voluntary layoff stage, at the end of 2007, 640 employees decided to leave.

In the fall of 2008, ArcelorMittal Galati closed several production units, due to the lower demand of steel products on the international market.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, announced early November it will cut its worldwide production by at least 30% in the last months of the year, due to the international financial crisis, which triggered a slump in demand.

The group owns four steel plants in Romania, in Galati, Iasi, Hunedoara and Roman, harbor operator Romportmet Galati and the local unit of construction company ArcelorMittal Construction.

Mediafax