Former Ilva of Taranto, yet another stalemate: the government continues to negotiate to convince Arcelor Mittal to stay

Yet another stalemate: today was not a decisive day for the fate of the former Ilva of Taranto. The next meeting of the Acciaierie d’Italia shareholders’ meeting is set for December 22nd. The meeting, called at 3pm, lasted a few hours and remained open, to continue in two weeks.

The government continues to negotiate to convince Arcelor Mittal to stay, but the parties still seem far from a decision. The crucial issue remains that of recapitalization. And resources are needed to guarantee current management in the meantime. Without financial support, there is a risk of collapse. There is fear for Taranto and, subsequently, for the other factories of the group. We will therefore have to wait a little longer to understand how the financial crisis of Europe’s largest steelworks will be addressed.

On the one hand, the government with the public shareholder Invitalia ready to do their part, on the other the private and majority shareholder Arcelor Mittal – with 62% of the shares of AdI – which would have presented at the meeting a legal brief already presented in recent days to the government. Furthermore, before the start, there would have been a single-issue summit at Palazzo Chigi to address the former Ilva dossier. At the table, according to what we learn, are the ministers of Business and Made in Italy, Urso, of Economy Giorgetti and for the Pnrr funds, Fitto.

For some time, the unions have been asking the government to intervene and take charge of a nationalization process by ousting the private partner, branded as “unreliable”. 320 million are needed immediately.

In the space of a few days, it is the third assembly. The previous ones – last November 23rd and 28th – ended with black smoke. All this while in Taranto, the group’s main plant with around 20 thousand direct, indirect and contract workers, a 48-hour strike by the staff assigned to the blast furnaces is underway from today. In the evening, the company’s note arrived: «Acciaierie d’Italia communicates that all 70 workers scheduled for the first two shifts have regularly served». He then recalls how “specific commands are foreseen in the hot area in order to safeguard the systems and protect the safety of people”.

The unions themselves, in addition to the mobilization, warned the company from stopping blast furnace 2. An operation, however, already started and motivated by the top management as temporary (until December 11th) and linked to a maintenance plan. Over the summer, the shutdown of blast furnace 1 – which never restarted in September – and now the other. For the unions, at this rate, the prospect is the shutdown of the only blast furnace still in operation: number 4 “already in precarious conditions”. And the 5 is also stopped. A situation that has never happened. The tension remains very high.

Already on the eve of today’s meeting, Fim, Fiom and Uilm had reiterated that Mittal will not want to «put in the resources necessary to continue to keep the former Ilva alive. The government cannot be held hostage by the multinational.” Nothing new for the blue collar organizations: according to their position, a decision already taken by the French-Indian giant three years ago, with the shareholders’ agreement and an initial public loan of 400 million. Then, at the beginning of 2023, the State paid a further 680 million. «And the zero majority shareholder». For the unions it is déjà vu and we are returning to square one. For Uilm the assembly is now “under blackmail by the majority shareholder”. The general secretary, Rocco Palombella, is clear: «The objective is to stop the factories and request compensation for damages, after they were the architects of a management that only caused plant shutdowns, layoffs for thousands of workers and burned over a billion of public resources. We believe it is unacceptable to grant further time to those who continue to hold the factories in check, blocking production and mocking workers and trade unions.”

Already in the last few hours, the metalworkers had said they were ready for a permanent presence (based on the results of the shareholders’ meeting), starting from next Monday, to be received at Palazzo Chigi. And this morning, meanwhile, the sit in of the USB union under the headquarters of the Taranto prefecture. A demonstration of solidarity towards the workers of the related company Sanac which produces refractories, fundamental for the steel production processes. But he no longer receives orders from the Taranto plant. «The fate of this company – says the basic trade union union – is dangerously similar to that of the former Ilva related companies which, like Sanac, “allow themselves” to ask for payment of invoices already accrued and already for This ends up on a black list and is excluded from orders.”