Posted on 10/01/2012 10:29:12 PM PDT by Cronos
In a blunt response to the Socialist government's demand last week that it restart or sell the furnaces, ArcelorMittal said it would give the state a two-month window to try to find a buyer before it shuts down the site.
"After four years of economic difficulties, we cannot hope for any return in the short term to pre-crisis activity levels," ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, said.
It said the closure would affect 629 workers out of a total 2,700 at the Florange plant, near the German border, and said it would try and move as many as possible to new jobs.
.. "For 14 months, they were telling us the closure was temporary. There is a lot of anger," local CFDT union representative Edouard Martin said at the site. "We need the government to fight alongside us and do everything it can to make Mr. Mittal stop his scrapheap strategy."
..Industry insiders say the furnaces - which were shut off in July and October of 2011 due to low demand - were not viable when demand is weak because of their small size and their distance from the coast, which makes the transport of raw materials more expensive.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Atlas shrugging, with french subtitles.
Very interesting! The company recently announced a HUGE investment to building a plant here in Pittsbsurgh.
ArcelorMittal doesn’t set up loss-making units and it doesn’t look for places where workers aren’t worth it. That says something about the underlying strength of the US economy
Also, unless you’re making some special “boutique” steel, it’s not economical anymore to make it at X when you need it at Y.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.