Steel Mills

Strike threatens ArcelorMittal Mexico’s blast furnace ops

May 31, 2024

A protest outside the ArcelorMittal Mexico plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacán, is threatening to impact blast furnace operations at the mill.

The steelmaker said in a statement on May 28 that an illegal strike began on Friday, May 24, and is obstructing access to its transformer plant and La Mira mine.

ArcelorMittal said it previously met with the Sindicato Minero union to review and pay out profit-sharing payments for workers. According to the steelmaker, a group of union members are blocking access to the mill because they disagree with the amounts they received.

The company said the union served it with a strike notice on May 28, saying that if an agreement is not reached by June 4, union workers will go on strike.

Since an official strike cannot happen until that date, the steelmaker said the current protest is illegal.

ArcelorMittal urgently appealed to both the state and federal governments to intervene and ensure the free movement and safety of its workers.

Neither Sindicato Minero nor ArcelorMittal Mexico could be reached for comment.

ArcelorMittal Mexico’s Lazaro Cardenas mill has an annual steelmaking capacity of approximately 5.3 million metric tons (mt) (5.84 million short tons), including 2.5 million mt of flat steel, 1.8 million mt of long products, and 1 million mt of slabs.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. Since 2007, she has held various editorial and marketing positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills. In 2021, after a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel trade journalism, joining SMU in 2022. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.