Nine O’clock reported that Mr Traian Basescu president of Romania said that as per his discussions with presentatives of the steel plant and with the labor unions ArcelorMittal does not intend to proceed to lay offs, at least not for the time being.

He noted that the employer’s policy did not provide for making staff redundant for the moment but it actually intends to keep the existing jobs even if some of the workers would probably be deployed to other positions within the company. The situation will be re assessed in March 2009.

Mr Basescu also mentioned that he had understood that one of the problems of the company was the dropping demand on the local market where it used to deliver 50% of its entire output. According to him, during a crisis, it is important that there is a partnership between the management and trade unions at ArcelorMittal. Mr Basescu also said he was going to visit several economic operators to do a stocktaking of problems they have so that he could take the necessary measures in order to be of assistance.

ArcelorMittal Galati officials were announcing a cut of production at the beginning of this month to prevent building up stocks of steel sheets but no lay offs. However, by downsizing its activity, the compound lefts other companies' employees jobless. Over 300 workers of various Galati-based companies that have agreements with ArcelorMittal Galati have been sacked recently or will be soon, according to the notices to the Galati County Employment Agency.