ArcelorMittal halts steel production at Gijon

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal Asturias suspended production at its Gijon steel plant in Spain owing to a strike by the workers' union.

The strike made it impossible to continue operations "without serious danger to the equipment and particularly to the employees," the firm said.

The producer has made a decision to initiate a lockout from 5pm CET today, which will remain in place for as long as necessary, meaning the entire workforce at the plant will be unable to work apart from employees assigned to essential services to ensure the safety of the equipment.

A plan for the long products business in Asturias has been discussed with the unions for months, ArcelorMittal said, but an agreement has not been reached, which provoked two of the unions to call "an indefinite and intermittent strike".

Gijon has a production capacity of around 600,000 t/yr of heavy plate and up to 1mn t/yr of wire rod and rails.

By Elena Grebiniuk