Displaying items by tag: Staff

UK: A team of Hanson employees has produced a sign from recycled materials from around the company’s 1.0Mt/yr Purfleet slag cement grinding plant. The 6m-long luminous sign, which reads ‘NHS Thank You,’ has been installed at the plant on the mill three tower overlooking the QE2 Dartford Crossing. Hanson Purfleet plant manager Warren Scott said, “The team wanted to show their appreciation for the NHS and key workers and came up with and executed this idea in their own time.”

Hanson has kept ‘a number of key sites’ open through the coronavirus outbreak in order ‘to supply key national infrastructure projects or to provide maintenance materials to critical sectors.’ Hanson has furloughed part of its staff under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Germany: Staff of HeidelbergCement in Germany will be employed on a ‘short-time’ basis, with hours reductions of up to 100%. HeidelbergCement says that it agreed upon the measure with employee representative bodies.

HeidelbergCement’s supervisory board and management board members have waived 20% of their fixed salaries in the second quarter of 2020 due to the financial impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has said that no employee will lose their job before July 2020 as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. It joins 3300 other employers across the country as part of the No Dismissals Movement. Votorantim Cimentos CEO Marcelo Castelli said, “Our goal is to reassure our employees and their families, and to help minimise the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Thailand: Siam City Cement has closed the production lines at its Plant 1 integrated cement plant in Saraburi province due to a lack of demand resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. In a statement the company said that, “The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is seriously affecting the overall economic system and has already caused the global business and industrial sectors. The impact on us has been the drastic decline in demand both from domestic and regional markets.” It added that the closure was not expected to have an adverse impact on its operations. It is offering a ‘Mutual Separation Plan’ to affected workers in accordance with and beyond local labour regulations.

Normal production will continue at its Plant 2 and Plant 3 sites. In its 2019 annual report the cement producer said that it operated three cement plants in Kang Koi District, Saraburi Province with a total of six kilns and a combined clinker capacity of 13Mt/yr. However, only five kilns were in operation at this time with a combined production of 12Mt/yr.

This news story has been updated following clarification from Insee Cement.

US: Lehigh Cement has announced plans to suspend operations at its 0.5Mt/yr Glens Falls, New York, plant and associated Moreau quarry by 1 May 2020 in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The move will see its local staff of 90 reduced to 36 for the duration of the shutdown. Times Union newspaper has reported that Lehigh Cement will cover the 54 dismissed employees’ health insurance payments and ‘provide assistance in applying for unemployment and other layoff-related benefits.’ Lehigh Cement Glens Falls plant manager David Dreyer said, “We look forward to the day when our nation's health is no longer at such risk and our customers' demand for cement products returns, so we can welcome our employees back and resume full operation.”

Japan: Equipment supplier UBE Japan instigated working-from-home for all employees as of 13 April 2020. Production is due to continue as normal, along with the supply of UBE products to Japanese cement producers. For necessary on-site workers, the company says that it has implemented flextime and staggered work schedules. The arrangement is currently scheduled to end on 10 May 2020.

Russia: Denmark-based FLSmidth has held an equipment installation and maintenance workshop for Vostokcement employees at Vostokcement subsidiary Spasskcement’s 3.2Mt/yr integrated plant in Primorsky Krai. Employees of Spasskcement, Teploozerskcement and Yakutcement were in attendance, along with employees of Vostokcement partner company Betonych JSC. The workshop focussed on the use of FLSmidth equipment in material handling equipment monitoring and breakdown response, including kiln shell repair optimisation, vibration diagnostics and flaw detection and pneumatic conveying applications.

Egypt: Misr Cement Qena has announced its donation of US$127,000 to the government’s Tahya Misr coronavirus rapid response fund. The fund aims to provide unemployed irregular workers with US$31.7/day, increasing the healthcare budget by 75% and providing ventilators to all who need them, as well as equipping hospitals with masks and detergent. Misr Cement Qena chairman Abd al-Fattah Harhour said, “We are very proud to take a leading part in the initiative as part of our ongoing social responsibility towards our country and our people.”

Colombia: Workers from Cemex Colombia are using vehicles volunteered by the company to transport water and disinfectant for use in street cleaning in Maceo, Antioquia department. Esmerk Latin American News has reported that the aim of the exercise is to combat the spread of coronavirus. Cemex Colombia has also donated food, water and antibacterial gel to communities around its 2.8Mt/yr Caracolito plant near Ibagué, Tomila department.

Ireland: UK-based Breedon Group has announced the suspension of operations at its 0.7Mt/yr integrated Kinnegad plant in County Westmeath and all other sites in Ireland. Breedon Group guaranteed 100% to pay to all Irish and UK staff to 30 April 2020.

Two non-executive directors of Breedon Group, Susie Farnon and Peter Cornell, have taken retirement.