Algiers, June 16: The management of the ArcelorMittal steelworks in Annaba, northeast Algeria, on Tuesday said that a strike planned from June 21 to back a pay claim was “illegal”, in a newsletter sent to staff.
“The strike announced for June 21 is illegal” because steps taken by the union “are out of line with the law and the collective bargaining agreement,” the management said in a special issue of the factory bulletin.
The management said that a general assembly convened by the union on June 10, where participants voted for a strike, was “attended by only 800 of the 6,200 employees of the factory” and there was no secret ballot on a work stoppage.
Union leader Smain Kouadria told AFP that “five thousand employees (…) took part in a general assembly and voted unanimously in favour of an open-ended strike, which can only be effective from June 20 in view of the legal delays,” including giving due warning to management.
“The vote took place in the presence of a bailiff,” he said.
Management argued that talks were still going on with the unions about the grievances of the workers, after the director of ArcelorMittal Annaba, Vincent Le Gouic, made proposals to the labour force in a letter on June 8.
“Management will continue the dialogue with the union,” the letter said.
It gave a timetable for “the opening in December of talks on salaries for the year 2011, the setting up in November of a bonus system contingent on the performance of the company, the opening in October of talks on the indemnity scheme and the updating from September of the collective bargaining agreement”.
ArcelorMittal chief executive Le Gouic said that the average basic salary had increased by 25 percent since January 2009 and would go up again by another five percent on July 1.
In its bulletin, the management warned employees “who decide to engage in an illegal adventure that could endanger the life” of the company.
The company employs some 6,200 salaried workers and annually produces about 700,000 tonnes of steel.
—Agencies