Trade Union: All 5,000 workers of the steel plant WORK in three shifts

Steel production in the Smederevo-based steel plant Zelezara has not been reduced since the end of 2019, and all 5,000 employees are engaged, said a representative of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia in that factory, Sinisa Prelic. He has told the Beta agency that there are no plans to shut down the second furnace and reduce the production of steel products by 100,000 tons per month, and the maximum production when both furnaces are working is around 160,000 tons per month. The Chinese company HBIS, which owns the Zelezara steel plant in Smederevo, shut down the furnace number one at the beginning of July this year, due to the introduction of EU quotas on steel import and the COVID-19 pandemic, and according to unofficial information, furnace number two is planned to be shut down. „Furnace number two operates without reducing production, and furnace number one was turned on because an increase in orders was expected, and since there were none, it was shut down and it will be prepared for turning on as soon as necessary,“ said Prelic. He added that the workers worked in three shifts and that there were activities in the factory regardless of the fact that one furnace was not working. He pointed out that at the beginning of April, HBIS hired 140 workers who were engaged through an employment agency and that it planned to hire about 40 more. „Since HBIS came to Zelezara, several companies from abroad have come to the industrial zone in Smederevo, including one from Japan, India, Belgium, and one company is preparing to come from Germany and they will hire, together with other companies, about 3,500 workers,“ Prelic said.

Izvor: Beta

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