Ruling against Arcelor Algeria strike snubed

ALGIERS: Leaders of a strike that hasshut down output at ArcelorMittal's Algerian steel plant rejected a courtdecision calling the strike illegal and said they would not return towork.

Workers at the plant began an indefinite strike on Monday topress for higher pay. A spokesman for ArcelorMittal, the world's biggeststeelmaker, said a local court had ordered the suspension of thestrike.

An official with the trade union representing most of theplant's 7,200 workers, however, told Reuters they did not accept the court'sdecision.

"We will not stop the strike, whatever the price will be,"union official Abdelhak Kerbaoui said.

"We consider our strikelegitimate, and we call on the government to help us force the management toreconsider its position not to agree to a pay rise," he said.

TheEl-Hadjar factory, near the city of Annaba in eastern Algeria, produced 750,000tonnes of steel in 2009. Most is for domestic consumption though some isexported to the Mediterranean region.

The trade union alleges thatArcelorMittal is flouting nationwide guidelines on pay rises set by thegovernment, but the company says it is not bound by them.

Arcelorsigned a deal with its workers in 2009 that includes the possibility of bonuses,and has agreed to meet again in December 2010 to discuss pay.

As aresult, ArcelorMital management at the plant said in a statement that the courtdecision should be respected.

"This means that all those who do notresume work will be opposing a decision of the court with all the legalconsequences this implies," the statement said.

Union leaders saythey want the Algerian state to re-establish its ownership of the El-Hadjarplant, which was privatised in 2001.

Algeria's government hastoughened its stance on foreign investors in the past few months. This year itforced Egypt's Orascom Telecom to enter talks on selling itslocal business to the Algerian state.

Government officials themselveshave made no public comment on the strike at the ArcelorMittal plant or on theunion's calls for it to be re-nationalised. But the union leading the strikeusually follows the government's line.