Unions to strike to ‘bitter end’ against ex-ILVA plan

(ANSA) – ROME, DEC 2 – Unions representing workers at the former ILVA steelworks in Taranto said Tuesday that they were going on strike indefinitely in protest at a government plan that they say will lead to the shuttering of the facility.
They are calling for the package, which they are calling a death plan and includes up to 6,000 redundancies, to be withdrawn and talks re-opened to formulate a new one with firm guarantees on the decarbonization of the steelworks and commitments on future production and employment levels.
The Fim, Fiom, Uilm and Usb unions said the strike was needed to "defend the rights of all workers and ensure stability and dignity." Workers at the former ILVA plant in Genoa, meanwhile, blocked road access to the city's airport with a digger.
The troubled Taranto factory, which once was Europe's biggest steelworks.
have been linked to high cancer rates in the Puglia port city and have gone through a series of owners over the past few years.
The group that owns the plant, Acciaierie d'Italia (AdI), is run by State-appointed administers after ArcelorMittal's acrimonious exit in January last year.
The unions have blasted Business Minister Adolfo Urso, especially over the redundancies and the reference to a new suitor for the plant, saying none is to be found and the State needs to step in.
They have called on Premier Giorgia Meloni to intervene directly. (ANSA).
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