JOHANNESBURG - ArcelorMittal is set to retrench about 3,500 workers.
It will be closing down some of its long steel mills in the country.
It blames this on power cuts, high Transnet costs and the decline in local infrastructure development.
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Trade union Solidarity says it's shocked at the timing of the move.
"Obviously there were discussions for a number of years already, not just with the trade unions but with employees as well," said Willie Venter.
"But nothing pertinent as such to say that listen, this is now crunch time and we're going to affect three of our long steel mills and we will be closing it down."