Unionized Mexican steel workers at the ArcelorMittal (MT) mine and steel mill in the Pacific port city of Lazaro Cardenas walked off their jobs Monday to protest a union leader's run-in with federal police.

Part of the complex was closed until the union decides when the workers will return, a spokesman for the company said. Essential personnel stayed behind to keep core operations running.

In a statement, the company said some essential operations continued, although finishing operations were temporarily affected. ArcelorMittal said it had plenty of inventory to meet customer demand.

ArcelorMittal is Mexico's biggest steel maker, with annual capacity of about 6.7 million tons of slab and other steel products.

AcelorMittal said it wasn't directly involved in the dispute between the National Mining Union's local chapter and federal authorities "that resulted in union protests at our facility."

The miner's union said in a statement that federal police had detained union special delegate Mario Garcia Ortiz late Saturday, without giving a reason for his detention.

The union said Garcia was being released by police when a group of union workers arrived. It said that although the workers were leaving the area, they were detained.

Workers scheduled a protest for late Monday in Lazaro Cardenas, and planned to decide later when full operations would resume at the mine and mill. The company spokesman said that could be Tuesday.

The Federal Police, through a spokesman, said they had no comment on the incident.

-By Laurence Iliff, Dow Jones Newswires; (52-55) 5980-5184, laurence.iliff@dowjones.com
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