For the government, relaunching Ilva and Taranto is a priority. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said this during the press conference at the end of the Council of Ministers dedicated to the situation of the Apulian plant and to the executive's need to stem the desire to disengage from the ArcelorMittal group. "We believe that industrial pole of strategic interest for the country. Conte then stated that the government confirmed its willingness to restore immunity. The government was willing to introduce the criminal shield, which was refused“, Added the premier. In short, the confrontation with the ArcelorMittal company is head-on. "It turns out that the criminal shield is not the real cause of the disengagement. The problem is industrial, ”Conte said. In practice, Arcelor Mittal no longer considers his commitment profitable and, in the meeting that took place during the day, he went so far as to ask for "five thousand redundancies" that the government "will never accept".
The prime minister added that "at the moment the concrete way is the call to their responsibility”And explained that he asked Lakshmi Mittal and his son to update themselves in two days maximum for a new proposal. Conte also said that we are in the presence of a "red alert", but that "no responsibility for the company's decision can be attributed to the government" and that "Italy is a serious country and we do not let ourselves be fooled". In short, the government does not accept ArcelorMittal's arguments. "Our tool at the moment is the pressure in our country system", Underlines Conte who convened the trade unions for Thursday afternoon, the president of the Puglia Region, Michele Emiliano, and the mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci. "We will call the whole country together“, Conte concluded.
At the table of Palazzo Chigi were the owner of Economic Development Stefano Patuanelli, that of the Economy Roberto Gualtieri, the Minister for the South Giuseppe Provenzano, the Minister of Labor Nunzia Catalfo and Roberto Speranza, who has the Health portfolio. There is also Teresa Bellanova, Minister for Agriculture, and the Undersecretary for Economic Planning and Investments Mario Turco. The ministers present are the expression of all the souls of the majority.
In the communication presented by Mittal based on article 47 of law 428/90, which Huffpost published, the company announces the formal start of the procedure to return the former Ilva plants, acquired in 2018, to the commissioners. All the players in the field, from the Mise, to the commissioners themselves, to the trade unions, are advised of the choice. The demotion of the company branches and the consequent transfer of workers will take place within thirty days from the date of withdrawal.
The retrocession of the plants and employees concerns the plants of ArcelorMittal Italia of Taranto (8.277 unit), Genoa (1.016), Novi Ligure (681), Milan (123), Racconigi (134), Paderno Dugnano (39), Legnaro (29 ) and Marghera (52) for a total of 10351 employees. To these are added the employees of the ArcelorMittal group companies: Amis (64), Am Energy (100), Am Tabular (40), Am Maritime (222). The total makes 10.777 workers.
The signal launched by Mittal arrives in the aftermath of the lawsuit filed by the same company before the judiciary. However, it will take a few days before the specialized section of the Court of Milan assigns the case to a judge, then fixing the date of the hearing.
The game is played on several levels, but Mittal arrives at the table with the government with suitcases in hand. Meanwhile, the Fim-Cisl raises the alarm. ArcelorMittal's decision to leave Taranto "is already causing the arrest of the contracting companies that have started the redundancy procedures, we are talking about another 4000 workers who immediately risk being unemployed", says the general secretary of the union Marco Bentivogli. It's time for a strike. That of the Fim-Cisl itself starts at 15 pm and will last 24 hours. But the union is split: Fiom, Uilm and Ubs prefer to suspend all decisions.