A.Mittal to lay off 3,500

(ANSA) - Taranto, December 11 - The FIM CISL trade union's Taranto branch said Wednesday that ArcelorMittal is set to lay off 3,500 workers at the former ILVA steelworks in the Puglia port city after a court rejected commissioners' appeals to postpone the closure of a blast furnace at the sprawling and highly polluting plant, Europe's biggest steelworks.
    Trade unions representing steel workers staged a major protest in Rome on Tuesday as the government continues talks to stop ArcelorMittal going back on an agreement to take over the former ILVA group.
    "We'll fill Rome," said Maurizio Landini, the head of the CGIL union, as workers went on strike to protest.
    ArcelorMittal in November filed suit to get out of their contract to take over the former ILVA steel works, including its big polluting, troubled Taranto plant, which is the biggest in Europe.
    The move rocked the government and Premier Giuseppe Conte vowed to stop ArcelorMittal's pullout, saying the company was breaching a contract.
    The government took legal action, prompting ArcelorMittal to suspend the procedure to turn off the altoforno 2 furnace at the Taranto plant, pending a decision.
    Then a Milan court put on ice the legal challenge against the French-Indian group's move to rescind the contract to take over the former ILVA group after new talks started.
    On Monday Conte stressed that negotiations with ArcelorMittal "are only at the beginning".
    The premier said last week ArcelorMittal's proposal to cut 4,700 jobs in the ex-ILVA steel group was "absolutely not OK" and was very similar to an initial plan to axe 5,000 jobs.
    Conte said "we reject it and we will work on the objectives we have set with Mr Mittal an which Mr Mittal has personally pledged to me to reach, and we will succeed".
    Unions also rejected a new plan by ArcelorMittal for the former ILVA steel group envisaging 4,700 lay-offs by 2023, including 2,891 immediately, and called today's strike.
    ArcelorMittal Italia CEO Lucia Morselli said the company had had a cash outflow of one billion euros this year.
    Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli said the government would advance its own plan to get to an output of eight million tonnes and safeguard jobs.
    He said he was "disappointed" with the "steps backward" taken by ArcelorMittal.
    Patuanelli has also said the Italian State was "willing" to invest in the group.
    Morselli has guaranteed "productive continuity" until December 20.