DNIPROPETROVSK, Jan. 14 – Ukrainian mining and metals companies in 2009 laid off 45,000 workers, Volodymyr Kazachenko, the head of the central committee of the metallurgists and miners' trade union of Ukraine said at a meeting with representatives of the said companies in Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday.

He said that at some companies, in particular, at the Makiyivka Steel Works, Dniprospetsstal and ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih, workers resigned and compensation worth 20 months of wages were paid to them.