Citizens' health our priority says Renzi (3)

(ANSA) - Taranto, July 29 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday that public health is the government's priority in the southern city of Taranto, where an ILVA steel plant is undergoing a massive environmental cleanup. He spoke at the inauguration of the Taranto National Archeological Museum (MarTa) as leftwing grassroots groups, unions and ILVA workers gathered to protest the government's handling of the polluting steelmaker.
    "Officials have neglected their duty for years and we're working overtime to make up for that, but the effort must be a collective one," Renzi said, as demonstrators unfurled a banner that said 'They're Killing Us' with three empty baby strollers underneath. "I'll take the insults, I'm not scared - what I care about is for Taranto to have both the sacrosanct right to health and the sacrosanct right to employment," Renzi said. The Senate last Wednesday gave final approval to a government decree on ILVA regarding the sale of the steelmaker's giant Taranto works, which is going through an expensive environmental clean-up and revamp to lower cancer risks and save jobs in the southern Italian city. "The ILVA decree is against Taranto, against citizens, against workers," the protesters shouted. They also accused Italy's 'big three' union federations - CGIL, CISL and UIL - of "complicity" with the government.