Business | General
Channel Sponsor
Tata's Corus seeks nod to cut work hours for staff
Tata Steel unit Corus has applied to the Dutch government to part-fund temporary cuts in the work hours of 4,600 staff, a Dutch trade union said, as the global slowdown eats into production levels.
- REuters
- Published: 23:25 December 2, 2008
Amsterdam: Tata Steel unit Corus has applied to the Dutch government to part-fund temporary cuts in the work hours of 4,600 staff, a Dutch trade union said on Tuesday, as the global slowdown eats into production levels.
"This is terrible but the best option under the circumstances," spokesman Maarten Hoelscher at trade union De Unie said, adding that the market had changed dramatically in recent weeks.
The government-funded work reduction scheme is part of a $7.6 billion (Dh27.7 billion) package - equivalent to 1 per cent of the Dutch GDP - announced last month to boost the flagging Dutch economy.
If Corus' application is approved, its workers in the Netherlands would be paid 70 per cent of their wage via unemployment benefits, while Corus would pay the other 30 per cent, a second trade union, FNV, told Dutch news agency ANP.
The arrangement would run for six weeks, starting in the first week of January, ANP said.
Corus, which employs 11,300 workers in the Netherlands, said in a statement on Monday it had applied for the work reduction scheme for staff at its Corus Steel plant at Ijmuiden, near Amsterdam. It did not specify the number of workers that could be affected.
The Social Affairs Ministry aims to make a decision on applications for the scheme within one working day.
Corus, Europe's second largest steelmaker, said last month it would extend previously announced production cuts beyond Dec-ember, having said in October it would reduce third quarter production to 80 per cent of normal output.
Production reduced
"Corus expects to produce about 30 per cent less crude steel than planned during the two quarters to the end of March 2009," it said.
The cuts are part of a wider industry trend, as steel companies battle falling demand. ArcelorMittal announced last month a temporary output cut of 30 per cent, up from an initial 15 per cent.
De Unie's Hoelscher said the union had reached an agreement that the scheme would be evenly spread across the workforce.
Share this article
More from Business General
More from Business
Popular in Business
-
Budget travel
Airlines in the region
Take a pictorial look at some of the budget airlines in GCC
Business Editor's choice
-
Credit swaps... a fair trade
Would you swap an unbuilt unit at the Lagoons for an apartment at JBR?
-
New face of safety
Volvo reveals a sleeker S60, ready to hit the roads early next year
-
When the Web lives worldwide
Cutting-edge firms are building massive data facilities all over the globe
