Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Arcelor-Mittal office ransacked

New Delhi (April 5): After reports of 80,000 job cuts in US, the tremors of a global job cut was also felt at Arcelor-Mittal when furious workers of steel giant stormed its plant in eastern France, ransacking Laxmi Mittal office and throwing his furniture and files out of the window.

This after the management confirmed hundreds of jobs would be cut at Arcelor Mittal because of its Gandrange plant, a site in the northeast of France, being restructured.

This could mean job cuts for more than half of the 1,100-strong work force between now and 2009, a major setback for the precarious economy of the Lorraine region, which once was a prosperous industrial region and the pride of France.

The steel plant is being closed partially despite French President Nicholas Sarkozy's appeal to Arcelor Mittal not to cut jobs in a region where unemployment is already high.

Arcelor Mittal is the world's largest steel company - born when Mittal steel acquired European firm Arcelor in 2006.
Recently, Mittal's brother, who runs his own steel company, has also been criticised for the alleged mistreatment of his employees.

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