ArcelorMittal Point Lisas, a subsidiary of the world’s leading steel and mining company is disagreeing with the figures provided by the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT) regarding the number of workers laid off last week.
ArcelorMittal has said “it was completely untrue and misleading” that it had sent home workers without any financial assistance during the holiday period and that more than “have already signed up to receive vacation encashment”.
The steel and mining company said it wanted to clarify “that it has laid off 480 workers of 533 bargaining unit workers” and not the figures quoted by the union.
Last Monday, the SWUTT said it denounced the decision of the ArcelorMittal Point Lisas, to lay off 600 employees with immediate effect.
The SWUTT said that the company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, had sent letters to “all it workers” laying them off “with immediate effect”.
The union said that only a few workers would remain on the pant for maintenance purposes from the period December 7 to January 15 next year.
The action of the company has been criticized by the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) and last Friday, prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said his administration would seek to hold talks with the company and the union on the matter.
In a statement, ArcelorMittal said managers with accrued vacation leave and knowing the company’s position in the international steel market had taken up the offer to proceed on paid vacation leave while managers without accrued vacation leave have been engaged to do alternative work at the Point Lisas plant.
The company said that over the last 10 years of its operations, it has suffered major financial losses for seven of those years and that with uncertainties in the international steel market it has not laid off or retrenched any of its permanent work force in recent times and only laid off workers in December as a last resort.
Source: http://antiguaobserver.com/