ArcelorMittal lays off one third of Kazakh workers

ALMATY, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The Kazakh unit of steel giant ArcelorMittal (MT.N) (ISPA.AS) has sent home one third of its work force on half pay for two weeks as part of a planned output cut, the company said on Friday.

ArcelorMittal said earlier this week it would reduce output by 30 percent year-on-year in 2008 due to shrinking demand.

"Starting from October 1, 4,200 people will be on a two-week leave," Nikolai Kubrakov, ArcelorMittal's Kazakhstan spokesman, said by telephone from the industrial town of Temirtau where the company is based.

"They are being paid 50 percent of their wages," he said.

The Kazakh government said in a separate statement on Friday that Prime Minister Karim Masimov had discussed the company's plans with its Chairman Lakshmi Mittal earlier this week.

"This issue must be managed so that a short-term leave does not become prolonged," it quoted Masimov as saying. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by David Cowell)