Sunday World can today reveal that ArcelorMittal has cut employees staff by as much as 45% as the steel manufacturer attempts to stay afloat during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.
ArcelorMittal South Africa said it had cut salaries for all employees, effective this month, for a “likely” period of three months and that it was accessing measures introduced by government to assist companies and employees, including the revised Unemployment Insurance Fund benefits.
The company in the statement did not elaborate how deep the cuts will be.
However, Sunday World has since seen a letter from the company’s chief human resources officer, Sedick Achmat, in which he broke down the cuts.
Achmat, in the letter to employees, said the company was forced to implement the salary cuts to mitigate against the impact of the COVID-19 on its business.
“It is therefore unavoidable that the remuneration of all employees of ArcelorMittal will be reduced by between 40% and 45% from 1 April for a period not less than 3 months,” wrote Achmat.
“We therefore request that the bearer of this letter, who is an employee of ArcelorMittal, be given favourable consideration for support measures through your institution in consideration of the impact that the Covid-19 virus is having on all South Africans.”
