MADRID- European steelmaker Arcelor said it will cut about 1,000 jobs in Spain between now and 2006.

An Arcelor spokesman said the company’s unit in the northern Spanish province of Asturias had signed an early retirement pact that would affect 626 employees, noting that an additional 400 jobs would be eliminated in the rest of Spain, also as a result of retirement plans.

Of those 400 posts, he said 120 were related to an early retirement agreement for employees in Sagunto, in the southern province of Valencia, which is already underway.

Arcelor will have a total 14,000 employees in Spain in 2006 following the cuts.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news