Ex Ilva, strike and blocked roads. Federacciai: the State intervenes – Corriere.it

Away from Tarantooooo, away from Tarantoooooo. From the garrison of the gatehouses which began at 4 in the morning to the march from the factory to the city centre, this was the chorus which, more than any other, marked the long day of the strike by the employees of Acciaierie d’Italia: 24 hours in Taranto, 4 hours in the other industrial sites of the group. A protest – organized by both Fim, Fiom and Uilm and by Usb – against the stalemate in which the former Ilva has been in for many months – squeezed between low production, some plants stopped, layoffs, many creditors to pay and lack of liquidity – and, above all, against the recent suspension, decided by Acciaierie d’Italia, of 145 related companies with the risk of at least another 2,000 workers being laid off. Away from Taranto, make yourself heard. They have to get away from here, they have destroyed the factory and an entire city – the speech made by a delegate at the head of the procession who also blocked the road in front of the factory for a few hours – an entire economy. This is the first of a series of mobilisations. We won’t stop until we have answers for direct, contract and Ilva in As workers.

The knot of the billion

On the subject, the government has already held a summit last Thursday with the ministers Adolfo Urso (Enterprise and Mde in Italy) and Marina Calderone (Lavoro), in the presence of trade unions, Invitalia (minority public partner of the private Mittal in Acciaierie d’Italia) , Confindustria and Regions where the plants are located. The company had also been invited but did not participate in the ministerial confrontation: as a result, the suspension of the 145 related companies was not withdrawn despite the government’s requests. Urso announced the rebalancing of corporate governance so that there really is a response to the commitments made. The executive must also decide on the use of one billion euros that the Aiuti Bis decree has assigned to Ilva, entrusting its management to Invitalia. The representatives of which will discuss with the private partner on the occasion of the shareholders’ meeting of Acciaierie d’Italia convened for next November 25, an appointment in which the president of AdI, Franco Bernab, hoped there could be a clarification on how to proceed between the public Invitalia, which represents the State, and the private ArcelorMittal. The unions, however, would like to go beyond the change of governance, going so far as to anticipate the increase in public participation from 32 to 60%, currently scheduled for 2024.

Federacciai’s appeal

And in this direction also came the — expected — assistance from the mayor of Taranto Rinaldo Melucci (We need an Italian and nationalized Ilva) and that, less expected, from Federacciai: The financial asphyxiation of Taranto – underlined the president of Federacciai, Antonio Gozzi, on the sidelines of the Confindustria Genoa meeting, speaking of the situation of Acciaierie d’Italia – explained by the fact that Arcelor Mittal does not financially support Ilva, because otherwise it would not be strangled like . We need to take note of the situation, define the problems and explore the ways that exist to save this strategic asset for the Italian economy: the Rivas invested 350-400 million euros a year in Taranto and in the other plants – Gozzi recalled – because the iron and steel industry needs continuous investments to maintain the level of product quality and production safety. Unfortunately, in these 10 years there have been no investments in the plants, but very important investments have been made in environmentalization and today the situation in Taranto is completely different from 10 years ago. Taranto, from the point of view of the environmental investments made, one of the first plants in the world. Today the conditions exist for an industrial recovery plan, but we need to decide who does it. We are no longer in the era of glorious state holdings for the city of Genoa and Finsider, the reissue of something that no longer exists is unimaginable, but it could be that the state, in a transitional phase, decides to intervene seriously on that company and build a hypothesis of privatization in the term.