Italy: 24-hour strike at former Ilva as Taranto must shut its blast furnaces
A court has ordered the hot end of the Taranto steelworks to close by Oct. 28. Workers at all former Ilva sites went on strike on Monday and blocked roads.
Archive image · Photo: mafe de baggis from Milano, Italy / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Workers at Italy's former Ilva steel group staged a 24-hour strike at all sites on Monday, Oct. 12. In Taranto in the Apulia region, home to what is considered Europe's largest steelworks, workers blocked the plant gates with sit-ins and roadblocks, broadcaster Tgcom24 reported. Strikes were also held in Genoa and Novi Ligure. Unions are calling on the government to present a clear industrial plan that includes measures against pollution.
The trigger is a ruling by the Milan Court of Appeal ordering the so-called hot end, with its blast furnaces, to close by Oct. 28, putting public health ahead of production. Operator Acciaierie d'Italia, which is under special state administration, halted production there on Oct. 9 and applied for wage-support schemes. Without steel from Taranto, the Genoa and Novi Ligure plants cannot keep running either, Il Post reported; they are due to stop by Nov. 15 at the latest.
The Court of Cassation is due to hear the case on Oct. 20. Around 11,000 employees are affected, according to Bulgarian business portal Banker.bg. The mayors of Genoa and Novi Ligure, Silvia Salis and Rocchino Muliere, called the announced shutdown unacceptable. According to reports on Oct. 9, the government planned to present an emergency decree with social safeguards for workers to the cabinet on Tuesday.