The Am InvestCo consortium taking
over the troubled ILVA steel plant in Taranto intends to keep on
almost 10,000 workers and make around 4,000 redundant, according
to a letter sent to unions ahead of the start of negotiations on
Monday.
The FIOM engineering union reacted furiously, saying it
planned to stage a sit-in at the plant.
The plant's unions, including FIOM, later said there would be
a 24-hour strike on Monday.
Minister for the Mezzogiorno Claudio De Vincenti vowed:
"there will be no firings".
He said the company and unions would start talks on the basis
of 10,000 workers on unchanged pay at the industry ministry on
Monday.
The AM Investco consortium is formed by world No. 1
ArcelorMittal of India and Marcegaglia of Italy.
A court this year declared ILVA insolvent, with debt totaling
nearly three billion euros.
The Taranto plant, the largest in Europe, is undergoing a
painful restructuring to revamp it and clean it up after years
in which it was linked to high local cancer rates.
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