Court bans general strike at Bosnia's Mittal plant

Sarajevo, Aug 3: A court today banned some 3,300 workers at Bosnia's largest steel maker, Mittal Steel Zenica, from continuing a general strike, saying the union had failed to meet all legal conditions for the action.

Workers at Mittal Zenica, a unit of the world's biggest steel maker Arcelor Mittal, on Wednesday launched the largest strike Bosnia has seen since the 1992-95 war, halting production by a major exporter.

They want minimum pay of 2.50 Bosnian marka (1.28 euro) per hour while management is offering 2.18 marka.

''The accused, the Union of Metal Workers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mittal Steel Zenica branch, is banned from organising and proceeding with a general strike,'' said the verdict of the Zenica court, faxed to sources.

The court said the union failed to keep an agreement with management on the obligatory number of workers who must stay on the job to maintain the production process.

The union did not provide evidence that it had proceeded according to the law in the procedure of organising and announcing the strike, the verdict added.

Mittal Zenica management said the company, with an annual production capacity of 800,000 tonnes of metal, was losing 500,000 euros (5,400) a day because of the strike.

The court dismissed a management bid to declare the strike as unfounded, which may permit the union to correct the illegalities and restart the strike.

Neither the management nor union leaders were immediately available for comment.

REUTERS >