Now Arcelor turns off all Ilva. The government goes to the legal war

Urgent appeal to the Court of Milan to block the stop of the blast furnaces and the withdrawal. First plant closed in a month. Unions in revolt. Orlando (Pd): an attack on the country

The timing of the stops
Yesterday morning, the CEO of ArcelorMittal Italy, Lucia Morselli, denying the news filtered by the governor Emiliano, communicated to the Tarantino unions the plan to stop the plants.

First, December 12 will be stopped Altoforno 2, for months at the center of a dispute between the Court of Taranto and the extraordinary commissioners to whom the plant is entrusted (and on which hangs a new request for seizure that could not be triggered at random on December 13th). Afo4 will be stopped on December 30th, while Afo1 will be shut down by mid-January. Then, between November 26 and 28, the 2-ribbed train will be closed "due to lack of orders". And finally, once all three blast furnaces have been stopped, Arcelor foresees the agglomeration, coking plant and thermoelectric power station.

"The situation precipitates"
The announcement of the stop was given almost simultaneously by the unions and industrialists from Taranto who were at the Mise yesterday afternoon to talk about the crisis. "We receive news of disengagement and rapid start-up of the extinguishing, something which, for our part, cannot and must not be done at all", declared the president of Confindustria Taranto, Antonio Marinaro.

"If it were still not clear, the situation is falling into an increasingly dramatic situation that does not allow for further tactics of politics", confirmed Marco Bentivogli della Fim. And from then on it was a river of declarations. Furlan (Cisl): "Shutting down would be a disaster". Barbagallo (Uil): "No to the Taranto funeral, we need production continuity". Landini (Cgil): «No to redundancies. Arcelor must respect the signed agreement ".

The pressure of the Democratic Party on Conte

For the Democratic Party the damage of image is devastating, the uncertainty is maximum and a harbinger of trouble only, especially in view of high-risk elections like those of Emilia in January. Where the government could arrive in the dock. This is why Zingaretti's deputy, Andrea Orlando, makes a big voice. "The government must prevent the Ilva plants from being shut down. An attempt by Mittal to destroy the production capacity of the plant to strengthen its market position by eliminating production quotas. It is an attack on the country ".

A way to turn the spotlight on the fact that the company is doing something that goes beyond the announcement of wanting to leave. Because "turning off the plants means destroying them, it takes months and months and hundreds of thousands of euros to turn them back on", explains a Dem executive. "So it is possible to ask for the intervention of the magistracy with an urgent procedure that obliges them to maintain plants on. If the judge gives him permission, they may leave, but don't destroy an asset. "

However, the PD's belief is that Indians want to give up anyway. "It was stupid to vote for the Lezzi amendment that removed the shield, because he was offered a pretext, but now it is useless to put it back." While Conte and Patuanelli keep this card in reserve if Mittal should return to negotiate. Among the hypotheses also the strengthening of the powers of the three commissioners or the appointment of an ad acta commissioner to protect the integrity of company assets.

Fiom, Fim and Uilm warn that "the planned shutdown of the plants could compromise the environmental and occupational future" of the former Ilva. Today they will hold a garrison under the windows of the Mise, where the meeting with the company and the minister is on the agenda to discuss the fates of the 10,700 employees taken on by Arcelor. And they are ready for new fighting actions.