The strike at the metallurgic plant of Galaţi continues

• The professional association and the employees of "ArcelorMittal Tubular Products" did not reach an agreement

The general strike sparked off by the employees of "ArcelorMittal Tubular Products", located on the platform of the metallurgic plant of Galaţi, continues into this week as well. On March 29th, when they interrupted their work, the 170 employees have announced that they would only abandon their protests when their complaints would be solved. The workers are asking for their salaries to be increased by 200 lei, an amount equally distributed for each of the 170 employees, plus 50 lei to the quantum of each of the two annual bonuses which currently amount to 400 lei.

On the other hand, the professional association is offering only a bonus of 2% of the annual income in April and another 2.5% in December, provided the company isn't losing money by the end of the year. Also, the professional association promises workers a higher promotional percentage and a higher degree of promotion and a better placement for workers.

"ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Galaţi acknowledges and respects the right of its employees to conduct a strike, within the limits of the law. We are constantly talking to the representatives of the employees and we are running efforts to sign the collective labor contract for 2012, which would secure the jobs, the wages, the financial and non-financial rights of the employees and to increase their revenues through financial bonuses, a solution which we feel is the only ones possible in the current economic context", said Dorian Dumitrescu, country communicator at "ArcelorMittal".

During the two days of protests, namely Thursday and Friday the output of "ArcelorMittal Tubular Products" was halted but without the orders of the plant's customers being affected.

Currently, the average gross salary of workers in the welded pipes plant is 1,400 lei, with around 200 lei in meal tickets every month.

According to the latest data published by the Ministry of Finance, "ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Galaţi" ended the year 2010 with a loss of over 21 million lei and a turnover of more than 64 million lei.