RPT-Bosnia ArcelorMittal unit to lay off up to 3,000

(Repeats to additional Reuters clients)

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO, March 31 (Reuters) - Bosnia's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal Zenica will suspend up to three quarters of its workforce in April, giving them slightly above half pay, union and company officials said on Tuesday.

The announcement prompted workers to threaten daily protests in a country many see as the least stable in the Balkans. Unions said up to 3,000 could be laid off.

"ArcelorMittal regrets it had to make such a decision and will continue to cooperate closely with trade unions," the company said in a statement. "The workers who will be temporarily sent home will receive fees in accordance to the law."

The Balkan country, still impoverished after Europe's deadliest fighting since World War Two in the 1990s, is facing recession and social unrest amid continued political division.

The company, a unit of global steel maker ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS), said on Monday it would send home temporarily a number of employees on April 1 in response to the global financial crisis.

Unions said the measures come without their consent and threatened daily protests starting on April 2.

"Up to 3,000 workers will be affected by this decision," said Islam Imamovic, president of the ArcelorMittal Zenica union.

ArcelorMittal Zenica, one of Bosnia's largest exporters, has reduced output in recent months but has not said by how much. It sent about 800 workers on forced holidays in February.

Bosnia's state statistics agency has reported a 56.7 percent fall in exports of basic metals and a 33.2 percent export cut in metal processing industries in January and February.

Unions want workers to receive 65 percent of regular wages while at home, although management is offering them 55 percent.

Imamovic said about 1,700 of the company's 3,850-strong workforce had loans worth a total of 17.5 million Bosnian marka ($12 million) at Raiffeisen Bank RIBH.VI, which they will not be able to pay back with such low salaries. He said the unions had talked to the bank and asked for flexibility. (Editing by Adam Tanner and David Holmes)