ArcelorMittal is trying to reduce capacity in line with the slowdown in the European economy and to cut its $23 billion of debt after Moody’s cut its credit rating to junk. The political clash is increasing after the industry minister expressed his frustration over the company’s plan to scale back one of its three major French factories and eliminate hundreds of jobs. The company wants to close two furnaces at the Florange plant, cutting 629 jobs, while continuing to operate a part of the facility that processes steel for the car industry. Currently the facility as a whole employs 2,700 people. In all, ArcelorMittal employs about 20,000 people in France.
French: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/business/global/labor-dispute-pits-france ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.