ArcelorMittal Galați lets another 1,050 employees go

ArcelorMittal Galați, Romania’s biggest steel plant controlled by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, announced 1,050 employees would leave the company by yearend in the wake of some voluntary departure schemes.

“The employees were informed about the final results of the voluntary departure scheme. 1,460 applications have been received and 1,050 have been accepted. This illustrates for us both the need to improve the plant’s productivity and the one of retaining competences. The employees will leave by yearend,” specified ArcelorMittal Galați representatives.

The employees part of the scheme will receive a fixed sum of money and several wages’ worth as compensation depending on their time spent with the company, with the offered compensation packages amounting to several tens of thousand lei.

Since taking over the Galați complex in 2001, Mittal group has opened a voluntary departure scheme almost each year, with the number of employees being thus cut by around 1,000-2,000 annually. Whereas at the time of privatisation, around 27,600 workers were employed at the plant, by yearend there will be just 8,300 left.