Gandrange (Fra) April 4 : French workers in an ArcelorMittal steel plant smashed up their plant director’s office Friday and threw his furniture and files out of the window after management confirmed hundreds of jobs would be cut. The attack, witnessed by reporters and police, who did not intervene, came after about 60 workers tried to break down doors to get into a meeting at which managers told union leaders that 575 jobs would go due to the plant’s partial closure. There were no injuries.

The Gandrange plant of ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, is facing a restructuring plan that would see elimination of more than half the jobs from a workforce of 1,108 between now and 2009. CFDT representative Edouard Martin said Friday that the only hope now was that France president Nicolas Sarkozy would “keep the promises he made to the workers of Gandrange .”

Sarkozy said during a visit to the plant in February that the government was ready to use state funds, despite concerns from the European Union, to invest in the factory “because our goal is to keep factories open in France.” Union sources said an investment of 20 to 30 million euros ($30 to $44 million) is needed to maintain operations at the plant. The plant’s management repeated in a statement on Friday that all workers whose jobs were to be cut would be offered a position in another ArcelorMittal plant, in particular at its plant in nearby Luxembourg.

Prime minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday that Sarkozy would meet with Lakshmi Mittal “in a few days” to discuss the future of Gandrange. A number of companies have reportedly expressed interest in buying the steelworks. Fillon said in in February that one possibility was for the French state could take a temporary stake in Gandrange to facilitate a sale to an investor.But ArcelorMittal, which has over 310,000 employees in more than 60 countries, said this week it wanted to keep Gandrange operational and that it was not for sale.