PRAGUE, July 23 -- Liberty Ostrava, one of the largest steelworks in the Czech Republic, said Tuesday that it is preparing to lay off workers and close its coke plant.

The steel producer, which has been insolvent since June, said in a press release that it has submitted the proposal to reduce the number of employees to the trade unions, but did not specify how many employees would be affected by the layoffs.

"This difficult measure is likely to result in the necessary cost reductions that need to be made to maintain viable secondary production operations along with the jobs in that part of the business and to ensure that the company remains attractive to potential new owners or investors," the company said.

Based in the northeast Czech city of Ostrava, the company has about 5,000 employees. Local media reported that the redundancies could affect up to 2,600 people, citing information the trade unionists received from the management. About 2,300 employees of them would leave by the end of November.

According to media reports, most of Liberty Ostrava's operations have been idle since last December, and the majority of its employees have been at home since then. They have not been paid wages for two months and are being compensated by the state through the Labor Office.

The Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said Tuesday that the Labor Office, which the ministry manages, has already paid over 95 percent of the wage claims of Liberty Ostrava employees for May, and will continue to assist.

"A crisis scenario is also prepared in case of mass layoffs," it added on the social media platform X.

  - Xinhua