South African steel workers protest planned closure of ArcelorMittal’s plant

ArcelorMittal’s plant workers protest against the planned closure of the plant which would lead to extensive job loss
South African steel workers protest planned closure of ArcelorMittal's plant

Scores of workers in South Africa picketed at steel giant ArcelorMittal’s plant in the town of Saldanha on Thursday demanding a halt in plans to close the operation which would see 900 jobs lost.

ArcelorMittal announced early this month that it would wind down the plant, 175 kilometres (110 miles)  north of Cape Town, because it was no longer viable on the export market.

The plant has “incurred substantial losses in the past,” said the company, adding that the “medium-term outlook remains bleak”.

But closing down the operation will mean extensive job losses in the small West Coast town of around 28,000 people, which is heavily dependent on the plant.

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South African steel workers protest planned closure of ArcelorMittal's plant
A small group of workers protest outside the ArcelorMittal Saldanha Steel plant against the planned closure of the plant on November 21, 2019, in Saldanha Bay, about 175km North of Cape Town. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)

Saldanha became operational in 1998 and employs 400 fulltime staff and 500 contract workers.

“When the steelworks closes, it means a thousand direct jobs … will be lost,” said Sammy Claassen, spokesman for a community support group, the South African Social and Economic Development Forum, said during the protest.

South African steel workers protest planned closure of ArcelorMittal's plant
A small group of workers protest outside the ArcelorMittal Saldanha Steel plant against the planned closure of the plant on November 21, 2019, in Saldanha Bay, about 175km North of Cape Town. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)

According to Claassen, if subcontractors are added, around 4,000 people will be affected by the closure of the steel factory. 

“There will be absolute poverty, absolute devastation and chaos, crime and unemployment,” said Claassen in the small town that was originally built on the fishing industry.

The town faced similar devastation when big fish factories closed down in the early 1990s before the steel plant opened in 1998.

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“Our town became a ghost town, our people weren’t working,” said 67-year-old community member Pauline Mali.

South African steel workers protest planned closure of ArcelorMittal's plant
A small group of workers protest outside the ArcelorMittal Saldanha Steel plant against the planned closure of the plant on November 21, 2019, in Saldanha Bay, about 175km North of Cape Town. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)

And “if the steelworks closes we’ll be back to where we come from,” she added.

Read: ArcelorMittal South Africa to cut more than 2,000 jobs

ArcelorMittal, which supplies more than 70 per cent of South Africa’s steel, announced in July that it could slash nearly a quarter of its 8,000-strong workforce throughout South Africa as part of a restructuring project.


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