ArcelorMittal Tubular Products - Iasi Unions Plan To Start Negotiating Y2010 Salaries In December

The trade union of ArcelorMittal Tubular Products - Iasi intends to start negotiations on the addendum to the Framework Labour Agreement for 2010 in December, the main objective being to obtain a salary raise for next year.

"Every year, we negotiate the salaries stipulated in the Framework Labour Agreement. The addendum to the Framework Labour Agreement regulating the provisions for 2010 is to be signed soon. Before we start discussions with the management, we will have a meeting with the employees to consult them on the salary raise we are going to request. We will not ask for too much, because we are realistic and we know that the current production level is low compared to the past years," said Constantin Rotaru, the leader of the trade union at ArcelorMittal Tubular Products SA - Iasi.

Following the headcount cut made earlier this year through a voluntary layoff scheme, the number of employees was reduced to 521, most of whom work in productive units.

Established in 1963, ArcelorMittal Tubular Products SA - Iasi (formerly Tepro) is the largest producer of longitudinal welded steel tubes in Romania and the nation"s market leader for mechanical tubes. ArcelorMittal Iasi"s, Tubular Products facilities include hot stretched reduction mills, cold forming tube mills annealing furnaces for normalizing, coating lines, and machines for threading.

Six months through the year, the company reported a net turnover of 53,561,213 RON, down by nearly two thirds from the 142,312,818 RON reported for the corresponding period for 2008. In terms of profit, the company reported a significant decline from a net profit of 17,389,768 RON in H1/08 to losses of 24,743,077 RON in H1/09, which the company explained by the ongoing economic crisis and difficult market conditions.

The company was taken over by world steel giant LNM Holdings (Mittal Steel Holdings) in 2003. In addition to the tubular products mill in Iasi, ArcelorMittal interests in Romania include the steel mill ArcelorMittal - Galati, ArcelorMittal - Hunedoara, ArcelorMittal Tubular Products - Roman, the local subsidiary of ArcelorMittal Construction and the port operator Romportmet - Galati.