Workers at Terni's troubled AST
steel plant will not accept a deal "at any cost" to save their
jobs, the leader of FIOM metalworkers union warned Monday,
triggering a reprimand from government.
Cabinet Secretary Graziano Delrio said Maurizio Landini's
words were a "concern" for the government.
"We think it is a time of responsibility for everyone,"
said Delrio.
A proposed agreement "will safeguard jobs and avoid more
than five hundred planned layoffs" that had been threatened by
the German-owned company that controls the plant in central
Umbria, Delrio added.
Landini, who said he planned to meet FIOM union members in
Terni later in the day, said that the proposed agreement was not
necessarily rejected but it needed to be carefully examined.
"The message that I think we want to send is this...we
believe we can basically go towards an agreement, but you cannot
make a deal at all costs," said the union leader.
"It must be an agreement that includes...a precise choice
of industrial policies," that includes continued steel
production and sales by the plant's parent company ThyssenKrupp,
said Landini.
The company's original plans to cut 550 jobs and 100
million euros in investments at the plant led to a series of
strikes and protests in recent months, some of which turned
violent.
In July, the company also said it intended to shut down one
of the two furnaces at the Terni plant.
However, in August the company accepted a government appeal
to put that plan on hold so talks could take place following
industrial action.
By early November, ThyssenKrup had reportedly agreed in
government-brokered talks with labor to keep both furnaces open
and invest 200 million euros.
But the parties have yet to agree on a final version of the
company's revised industrial plan.
Last Friday, Premier Matteo Renzi said his government was
"very close to a solution".
One day earlier, AST CEO Lucia Morselli said that the
company's steel plant won't be dismantled.
"The intention is to maintain the Terni production site in
its entirety, excluding any hypothesis of dismantling the
facilities," read a message to staff signed by Morselli and
attached to the Terni plant's gates.
Earlier in the month, unions said they saw eye to eye with
the government on keeping both furnaces at the troubled AST
steel plant in operation, labor sources said.
As well, Italy has called for a European Union task force
to monitor compliance with the new industrial plan proposed by
ThyssenKrupp.
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