Former Ilva workers to strike as shutdown threatens thousands of jobs in Italy
Workers at every former Ilva plant in Italy will stage a strike on 12 October, unions announced after a meeting with the government at Palazzo Chigi on Thursday. The industrial action comes as Acciaierie d’Italia moves forward with plans to close operations in Taranto, Genoa, and Novi Ligure, putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk. Production at the hot end of the Taranto steelworks was halted on Friday in line with a Milan Court of Appeal ruling. The facilities will be kept on heated standby, maintaining a minimum technical level to stay warm without making steel. Acciaierie d’Italia confirmed the suspension in a note to the prefect, local authorities, and law enforcement, and it will last until the Court of Cassation decides on appeals filed by Ilva and Acciaierie d’Italia on 20 October.
Government weighs emergency decree
Undersecretary to the prime minister’s office Alfredo Mantovano stressed the need for an emergency decree. He said the government is looking at whether there is room to prevent a full shutdown and avoid irreparable harm to the plants. The decree would include social protections for workers and a wage-support scheme that is not linked to closing operations but instead helps keep the business running. The government is expected to present the decree at the next council of ministers, scheduled for Tuesday.
The company also announced a “temporary general shutdown” of former Ilva plants in Genoa and Novi Ligure by 15 November. Mayors Silvia Salis of Genoa and Rocchino Muliere of Novi Ligure called the lockout announcement “completely unacceptable.” Salis said it is “an untenable prospect for workers, for Genoa and Novi Ligure, and for our country’s entire steel industry.”
Liguria Region President Marco Bucci and Piedmont counterpart Alberto Cirio described the closure of plants in Cornigliano, Novi Ligure, and Racconigi as “extremely serious news, not only for Liguria and Piedmont, but for the entire Italian steel industry, which is strategic for the country’s industrial future.” Trade unions also rejected the idea of closure. Michele de Palma, general secretary of Fiom-Cgil, who attended the Palazzo Chigi meeting, said workers have shown great responsibility and that the cost of decisions and mistakes must not be passed on to them.
The USB union argued that the country’s industrial strategy “is not decided by the judiciary,” and Sasha Colautti, a member of its national executive, said the government’s powerlessness in the face of courts must not become an excuse. If the Taranto blast furnaces are taken off heat before the Supreme Court ruling, a permanent shutdown of the hot end would leave no possibility of restart and make any court decision meaningless. Mantovano said the government is focusing on green steel production using direct reduced iron plants and electric furnaces, provided it is part of a credible industrial plan.
