Polish cement plant Cementowania Strzelce Opolskie, a subsidiary of the local cement group Gorazdze, controlled by the German sector company HeidelbergCement, will be closed down in 2004, it was reported on January 6,2004. Currently Cementowania Strzelce Opolskie employs 230 and will start to terminate the labour contracts of a part of its workers at the end of February 2004. The plant will terminate the labour contracts with the last group of its workers in March 2004. The plant agreed with the trade unions to pay a severance and outplacement payments of between 15,000 Polish zloty ($4,100/3,200 euro) and 70,000 zloty ($19,000/15,000 euro) for each laid-off worker. The fired workers who choose to open their own business will receive additional financial aid of 4,600 zloty ($1,200/984 euro) each. The plant ceased to produce clinker three years ago and after that it used the materials manufactured by Gorazdze plant for the slag cement production. The difficult situation on the domestic construction market and high costs of production in Cementowania Strzelce Opolskie were the main reasons which accelerated the company's decision to be closed down. The cement sales in Poland in 2003 dropped to the level in 1995 and the imports of cement, mainly from the neighbouring Belarus, increased by 20 per cent, the Gorazdze general director, Ernest Jelito, said.
