[SteelTown]

Dofasco announces Christmas shutdown
Two-week complete shutdown at ArcelorMittal Dofasco

November 13, 2008
Naomi Powell

ArcelorMittal Dofasco will shut down all Hamilton operations for two weeks at Christmas as it continues to struggle with a massive downturn in demand for steel.

More than 5,000 hourly and salaried employees of the steelmaker will be required to take vacation or unpaid leave during the shutdown, to begin on Dec. 22.

Only essential staff will remain at the Burlington Street plant as all steelmaking comes to a halt.

“This is for two reasons and one is to give our employees time with their families over Christmas,” said spokesperson Larry Meyer. “It’s also a cost-containment opportunity that will also allow us to save some money.”

Meyer said very few employees would have to take unpaid leave during the shutdown. No layoffs are planned.

“This is to make sure we don’t, on a longer-term basis, impact our full-time employees.”

The moves comes on the heels of the former Dofasco’s announcement last week that it would slash production by 40 per cent.

The cut is in line with parent company ArcelorMittal’s plans to cut global production by one third as steel pricing and demand plummet.

Meyer said the decision to shutdown all operations was made in the days following that announcement.