U.S. Steel Corp’s underperforming Serbian unit said on Monday it would cut back to a four-day working week for the majority of its workforce to reduce costs.
For the past five years, the steel plant in the Serbian city of Smederevo has been running far below its annual capacity of 2.4 million tonnes, but remains a major exporter and employer.
U.S. Steel Corp has blamed sluggish economic growth in the Balkan region and pressure from lower-priced imports, resulting in weaker demand.
U.S. Steel Serbia said it had decided to cut back to a four-day week for most workers, who would receive 60 percent of pay for the fifth day.
“This action will help our Company to reduce costs in a fair and reasonable way and minimize the impact of the hard economic situation on the families of our workers,” U.S. Steel Serbia spokesman Nemanja Brkovic said in an e-mailed statement.
“The new regime will enable the company to be flexible enough to meet the needs of our customers.”
U.S. Steel purchased Smederevo’s bankrupt Sartid steel mill in 2003 for $33 million in one of the first major privatisation deals after the ouster of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
Source Reuters
