The Government wants to avoid 2,500 layoffs in the ex Ilva supply chain in Taranto communicated by 28 companies associated with Aigi in view of the shutdown of the hot area of the factory by the end of October ordered by the Milan Court of Appeal. This was stated by the Minister of Enterprises, Adolfo Urso, on the sidelines of a meeting for Ac Boilers in Gioia Del Colle (Bari). “We absolutely must prevent collective layoffs,” Urso said. “We are committed to avoiding a decision that has triggered what many have called a social and productive bomb, having workers as the first victims. A meeting with local authorities will be necessary because we must work together. We have called a series of meetings at Palazzo Chigi that will take place next Tuesday. The supply chain workers are the first to be affected because the supply chain companies mainly work in the hot area that is about to be closed.”
For Urso, “now more than ever on ex Ilva we need to work together“, with local authorities “and then obviously also with companies, starting with the supply chain and the Italian manufacturing supply chain companies that use Taranto’s products.” Urso, who highlighted the lack of a sharing climate in Taranto for ex Ilva unlike what happened in Terni, Piombino and also in Gioia del Colle for Ac Boilers, continued: “If we manage to create, as I hope from Tuesday, a climate of sharing, we will be able to limit the social and productive impact and also outline a relaunch project with the hope that the ongoing international tender will have a positive outcome.”
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The unions: without resources, the factory still risks stopping
Meanwhile, if the Milan Court of Appeal were to suspend the decree to stop the hot area of ex Ilva (both Ilva and Acciaierie d’Italia have filed for suspension) and thus allow its continuation, the steel factory “still risks stopping at the end of October due to lack of resources.” This was highlighted by the unions Fim Cisl, Fiom Cgil, Uilm and Usb in a press conference on the collective layoff procedures activated for over 2,500 supply chain-contract workers.
In ex Ilva, the unions said, “there are resources to last until the end of October,” which is also the date by which the hot area – blast furnaces and steelworks – must stop by order of the Judiciary citing pollution and health and environmental damage (asbestos in the blast furnaces and fine dust emissions). For the unions, after October, even with a positive outcome from the Court of Appeal, there would be no resources to buy raw materials for steel production, run the few remaining active plants, pay employees and suppliers, and also advance, instead of the INPS, the wage guarantee fund.
Regarding resources, it should be noted that in recent months the Government, within the 390 million ceiling (bridge loan pending the sale of the company to private parties) authorized by the EU Commission, has authorized the disbursement to ex Ilva of three financing tranches: 149 million, 100 million and 100 million. Meanwhile, on extraordinary wage guarantee fund, the unions expect ex Ilva soon to significantly increase the numbers in view of the hot area shutdown by judicial decision. Today the fund is authorized for a maximum of 4,500 workers in the group (out of about 10,000 staff) of which 3,800 in Taranto (out of just under 8,000).
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The unions’ positions
“The ex Ilva issue is getting even more complicated because despite the unions, in a united manner, having asked the employers’ associations and Aigi in particular to hold off before sending the notices and procedures on the 2,500 collective layoffs, Aigi went ahead alone without waiting for the meeting on Tuesday the 8th,” said Luigi Bennardi of Uilm Taranto. “This worries us a lot because Taranto is on the brink of a social bomb and we must try to prevent it,” Bennardi continued. “We say to the Government and all institutions, ahead of the summit at Palazzo Chigi on September 8, that time is up in Taranto. Clear intervention with extraordinary measures is needed for all workers: Acciaierie d’Italia, Ilva and especially the contract and supply chain workers.”
“After the Mediterranean Games, where Taranto showed its beauty in a fascinating setting despite the many problems it has with health, environment and work, sending the day after a procedure announcing 2,500 layoffs, I believe it is a slap to the territory, institutions, workers and the city,” said Biagio Prisciano of Fim Cisl. “Besides raising industrial, environmental, employment and social issues, we will also raise at Palazzo Chigi those of the supply chain whose workers, compared to others, represent the weakest link.” “Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in Bari that the Government supports the operational continuity of ex Ilva, but for continuity,” Prisciano noted, “not only proposals must be put in place, but also what the Government intends to do with the Taranto plant and the others in the group. When we talk about employment continuity, we mean that we are not for maintaining the current coal cycle but for switching to electric through electric furnaces and green steel production without polluting and without making those inside and outside the factory sick.”
For Francesco Brigati of Fiom Cgil, “the Government is taking on a huge responsibility: that of closing ex Ilva without any prospects for workers, the city and decarbonization. If there is a suspension of the Milan Court of Appeal’s ruling, the plant will still close due to lack of financial resources. These days the shutdown is proceeding. Responsibility should not be given to the Milan Court of Appeal. I believe,” Brigati said, “that there is a very large one on the Government given such a condition. Ships with minerals are not arriving and so the availability of raw materials is running out. The Government that celebrated longevity primacy in Bari had five years to intervene and plan the future of ex Ilva, but it did not.” And Franco Rizzo of Usb concluded: “We expect awareness, that is, the Government must find the courage to do the only thing that must be done: nationalize the factory. The only entity that can carry forward a serious, real decarbonization project is the State. Yes, a tender has opened for the sale of ex Ilva, there are offers, but these are offers where the economic part is always guaranteed by the State.”
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