Production halts again at Zelezara Smederevo steelworks? - Only 10 percent of workers to stay to maintain and secure steel mill

(Zelezara Smederevo)

Only two weeks prior to the closing date for bids for Zelezara Smederevo steelworks, about 5,000 workers of that plant will be sent home until further notice for the second time this year, whereas the second blast furnace will join the first one that has been in hibernation since spring 2011, Politika reports.

This former Serbian giant is now facing a production collapse, Politika cites its source as claiming. Raw materials are rarely supplied to the steel mill, there are less and less orders and panic has already set in at this plant.

Workers again have to choose the lesser of two evils: to go on a "paid" leave and receive 60% of their salary or to use their vacation days. Only about ten percent of them will stay at work to maintain and secure the plant.

Gujanicic: Second blast furnace stays in operation

The second blast furnace at Zelezara Smederevo is not going to be put into hibernation because the company has a work to do over the next two months to complete the contracts it has signed, President of the Independent Trade Union of Zelezara Smederevo Mileta Gujanicic told Tanjug news agency Sunday.

- Machines at the steelworks currently operate below full capacity with short breaks of five days, which is why the management has invited workers to voluntarily go on a paid leave - said Gujanicic.

Gujanicic added that it was a logical move given that there was not much work to do and that workers could also do some less paid jobs, like cleaning, for example.

He denied the rumors that the other blast furnace would be put into hibernation, stressing that the steelworks was fulfilling its obligations towards buyers and the state and that the monthly production amounted to about 80,000 tonnes.