On Wednesday, June 3, steel giant ArcelorMittal announced that it has reached a deal with the Spanish government for temporary layoffs amongst its 12,000 Spanish workforce distributed in 17 plants.
Accordingly, the Spanish labor ministry has approved ArcelorMittal's plan, which was agreed by unions last month. The labor ministry has given the company the green light to use flexible unemployment measures at all its Spanish sites if needed. The measure will allow ArcelorMittal to put all of its 12,000 salaried Spanish workers on temporary unemployment if needed.
According to ArcelorMittal, the agreement is valid through the end of the year and may be extended through June 1, 2010, depending on the market conditions.
ArcelorMittal has not yet sent any of its Spanish workers home, but it is currently evaluating its Spanish plants to see where temporary layoffs should be made.
"It is unlikely that all employees will be put on temporary unemployment at the same time," said ArcelorMittal.
The company added, "We're asking for permission to use this tool for all of our workers but it won't be used on all the people. We produce hundreds of different types of products, each with different demand profiles."
"This temporary layoff plan will enable the company to adapt the activity of each plant to the actual volume of orders they are receiving," stated ArcelorMittal.
Employees who are sent home temporarily under the plan will receive 90 percent of their gross salary while not working, which would be paid partially by Spain's public unemployment service and partially by ArcelorMittal.