May 8 (SeeNews) - The government of Bosnia's Serb Republic's will require steelmaker ArcelorMittal to meet all of its obligations towards the employees of Omarska iron ore mines it plans to lay off, the entity's prime minister said on Wednesday.
"ArcelorMittal should provide to these people all rights that they have according to the law," Radovan Viskovic told reporters on the sidelines of the EBRD 2019 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Sarajevo.
The company has announced that it may lay off workers as of September 1 and the government is already in contacts with its management, Viskovic added.
"I hope that these people will rapidly find jobs in other companies."
On Tuesday, ArcelorMittal said it plans to slash 300 out of 800 jobs at its Omarska mines located in Prijedor, as it intends to reduce iron ore output at the site to 1.0 million tonnes per year from 1.5 million tonnes. The measure will be taken in order to extend the service life of the mine as otherwise it would need to be closed in 2025, the company's European unit said in a statement.
ArcelorMittal owns a steel plant in Zenica, in central Bosnia, where it processes iron ore produced at the Prijedor-based mine.
Prijedor is based in the Serb Republic, one of two autonomous entities forming Bosnia. The other one is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.