ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel maker, said that it was seeking to optimize its support services at its European flat carbon steel division, which unions said would translate into thousands of lost jobs.

ArcelorMittal said in a written statement to AFP that "To face economic difficulties in Europe, the Flat Carbon Europe division considers it vital to improve and insure competitivity of its activity at all levels."

The company said that during a European work's council meeting held Wednesday in Luxembourg, management of the ArcelorMittal unit presented its guiding objectives on future organization with regard to support services, which include administration, human resources, technology and purchasing.

ArcelorMittal offered no details on its intentions, adding only that each site in the division would carry out their own detailed analysis. It said that "Worker representatives will be notified in due course on the evolution of this analysis."

But Mr Edouard Martin of the French CFDT union called the objective a hidden layoff plan which will bring several thousand job cuts in Europe, including several hundred in France, especially at the Florange site.

The CFE CGC union said that between 3,000 and 5,000 jobs could be lost out of the 10,000 support jobs concerned in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Poland and Romania.

Hit by the economic crisis, the company has closed several sites in Europe and put others on slowdown, including the plant in Florange in northern France.

Source - Agence France Presse

(www.steelguru.com)