The Mexican unit of the global steel giant ArcelorMittal stopped producing 100,000 metric tons (mt) of steel due to blockades of a blast furnace and a mining field since last May 24 by unionized workers. At the moment, the company controls the production process of the blast furnace in a controlled manner so as not to damage it, the company reported.
“The illegal blockade that is now 11 days old today (June 4) has caused the loss of more than 100,000 mt of production, generating an operational and financial crisis with serious economic repercussions,” the company reported in a press release.
“These events not only endanger the continuity of our operations, but also the job stability of our collaborators and the well-being of their families, negatively affecting the economy of the region,” added the largest steel company in Mexico.
With the argument of a poor distribution of profits to the workers, a group of workers from Section 271 of the Mining Union (National Union of Mining, Metallurgical, Steel and Similar Workers of the Mexican Republic), chaired by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, blocked the roads of the plant located in the western city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.
A blast furnace with a steel production capacity of 2.4 million mt per year operates in these facilities. In addition, dissatisfied workers blocked access roads to a mine (Tenencia La Mira), also in the Mexican state of Michoacán.
ArcelorMittal in Mexico is the largest steel company in the country. Last year it manufactured 3.9 million mt of raw steel. In its mining complexes it reported a production of 4.5 million mt of iron ore.