Ilva: in Taranto, the impossible choice between employment and health

Audio 19:30

By: Pauline Gleize Follow

In southern Italy, the future of Europe's largest steelworks is threatened by ArcelorMittal's desire to withdraw from the site. A site which directly employs 8,200 people, but which is widely criticized for the pollution it causes.

Publicity

Chimneys that stand out against a black sky where white doves fly. Here is the representation of the city of Taranto by the local artist Domenico Campagna. A black sky "  like when the north wind disperses dust harmful to health, a black sky because our mood is black at the moment,  " he explains.

This installation created on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death due to a rare form of cancer of a teenager, Giorgio, is the "  synthesis of the pain experienced by the Tarentines  ", analyzes Francesca Di Ponzio of the CLAM cultural center . "  Cancer is everywhere, and one of the causes is undoubtedly the Ilva, which has nevertheless provided us with so much well-being, and brought the economic boom in the city  ", but also "pain".

Giorgio di Ponzio succumbed to clear cell soft tissue sarcoma. Carla Lucarelli, her mother, is convinced of this "  100%, her disease was caused by dioxin", because she is "a sentinel tumor of polluted areas  ". So she asked Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to close the ex-Ilva.

"When production increased, mortality increased"

Giorgio's disease is not an isolated case in the city. "  Scientific studies have shown that in the Taranto area there is an excessive number of cases of certain diseases  ", explains Annamaria Moschetti, president of the commission for the environment of the Order of Physicians of Taranto. “ And the impact is stronger on residents of neighborhoods closest to the industrial zone. These are diseases that have multifactorial origins, but which can be linked to polluting substances. "And to list:"  There are, for example, an above average number of lung tumors, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. There is also a higher general mortality linked to dust of industrial origin. We have seen that when industrial production increased, general mortality increased. When production fell, mortality fell. "

Contamination can be by respiratory route, and food, or through dust, especially for children who put their hands in their mouths. If the Sentieri report ( to be consulted here , in Italian), a benchmark epidemiological study, remains cautious about the mortality rate of children and young people, it highlights a number of cancer cases higher than the average. Just one example: between 2006 and 2013, the number of thyroid tumors among 20-29 year olds in Taranto was 70% higher than in the region as a whole.

A fast lane by way of separation

The concern relates, in particular, to the proximity between the factory and the city. It is by driving on the expressway built overhanging that one realizes it best. On the one hand, the iron and steel site, the immense “greenhouse” which has recently covered the ore parks and its chimneys. On the other, a few trees and the popular Tamburi district.

"  From the highest of the chimneys  ", visible from the Tamburi, "  came out up to a quantity of dioxin equivalent to 10,000 incinerators  ", says Alessandro Marescotti, president of the Peacelink association which has denounced pollution for years. industrial in this city of Puglia.

His guided tour of the neighborhood begins in front of a wall plaque. “  It is written there,” he reads: “ On days with north-north-westerly winds, one is buried under mineral dust and suffocated by gas fumes from the Ilva industrial zone. For all this, we curse those who can do something and do nothing about it ”.  "And commented:"  Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. Politics has done little, if not sometimes nothing at all.  "

The government (s) criticized from all sides

The role played by institutions is contested on all sides in Taranto. By unions on the one hand and (sometimes) for other reasons, by Alessandro Marescotti. “  The government is putting pressure on ArcelorMittal, which wanted to leave, so that it continues to produce while since 2012, Ilva has been producing at a loss. So: we cannot even say that there were deaths to make a profit ! "

But profit or not, the former Ilva who also has a steelworks in Genoa is a heavyweight in the local economy. According to Svimez, the Association for the Development of Industry in the South, a closure would have an impact of 0.2% on the GDP of Italy, 0.7% on the GDP of the South of the boot. The Taranto site has also been classified: an enterprise of “  national strategic interest  ”. But, Alessandro Marescotti is ironic: “  If it were the case, it would not have been given to a foreign multinational. "

{{scope.counterText}}

{{scope.counterText}}

{{scope.legend}}

"If Ilva closes, Taranto closes"

But the closure is not necessarily desired by the direct neighbors of the immense industrial expanse. Lucia Gallo works in a small olive and oil shop, and has always lived in Tamburi. The young woman complains of "  the sometimes unbreathable air  " and "  dust on the balconies  ". Closing the Ilva "  that would be of service to everyone  ", she argues, before qualifying: "  but the people who work there where would they go ? My father worked there for years, I have friends, family, if they are made redundant: what do they do ?  "A man intervenes:"  Here, we are living dead. "

Direction the cemetery, adjacent to the factory, too. A sign of local anger, the name of Ilva was tagged on a road sign indicating the path to take. The florist, Domenico Fumato, also plague against “the Italsider”, the old name of Ilva, but he grew up in this district and “  will never leave it  ”. He hopes that the site will be brought up to standard, but not its closure. “  Otherwise, Taranto is closing  ”.

In fact, according to Svimez, for the period 2019-2024, nearly 42,000 direct and indirect jobs are at stake throughout Puglia, a region where unemployment exceeds 16% (Eurostat 2018 data).

“ Salva Ilva ” decrees

Employment is already threatened by the vicissitudes of the steelworks. In 2012, the hot sector - of which the blast furnaces are part - was seized as a precaution by the courts. Many so-called “  Salva Ilva  ” decrees followed to allow the activity to continue. In 2013, the plant was placed under “  special administration  ” by the State. A few years later, an agreement was signed with Arcelor Mittal, which took over the site, but not all of its employees, more than 1,600 going through the “  technical unemployment  ” box .

The European Court of Human Rights has since ruled that the state had violated the law. This is not the end of the twists and turns. In November 2019, the “  criminal shield  ” (legal protection relating to cases of pollution) opposed by the 5-Star Movement was withdrawn.

It was then that ArcelorMittal decided to break the contract and plunged 8,200 direct employees and thousands of workers from companies gravitating around the steelworks into uncertainty. At the end of January 2020, the Italian government and the Franco-Indian group had not yet concluded their negotiations, while legal action is underway. But, during these last three months, the industrialist who did not wish to answer our questions, raised the possibility of eliminating thousands of positions.

Employees are variously worried. “  Either you lose your job or your life, so it doesn't change anything ! », Launches one of them resigned. Still leaving the establishment, Giovanni Panariti is more confident about his future. His wish: to make work and environment coincide. Without revealing himself further, he says he knows "  what this cursed evil means." So, if it is mainly linked to the factory, it is normal to do something to reduce  ”the risks.

One of his colleagues, Daniele D'Amicis, assures him that "  improvements have already been made over the 20 years  " he spent in the factory. The ore parks are also in the process of being covered to prevent dust from dispersing on the neighboring districts, especially on windy days. A measure deemed " insufficient " by Alessandro Marescotti.

"The government provided an alibi"

In the meantime, while the future of the site is in the hot seat, the unions regret not being more included in the negotiations. Biagio Prisciano, deputy secretary general of the local section of the FIM-CISL, is all the more worried because in his eyes, the plan of the steel giant "  only proposes job cuts and simply aims to close the factory  ”. However, he considers that there is no plan B to replace all the workers. On the other hand, “  it is clear that we want a site that respects the environment and health  ”.

More critical still the approach of Francesco Rizzo worker of Ilva and departmental coordinator of the USB union. He calls on the government to turn the page on ArcelorMittal. And to declare: “  I was not waiting for the immediate closure of the factory, because it would have been a bloodletting in terms of jobs. But I would have hoped that on the one hand, a plan would have been drawn up defining the deadlines and the modality for shutting down polluting installations, and on the other a planning of interventions that the government would make in the territory to stimulate the economy and help replace people who, little by little, have left the factory. "

Investments, this is also what the president of the province of Taranto, Giovanni Gugliotti is calling for, who wants to believe in the possibility of making “green” steel in the city of the two seas. But, he prefers to remain cautious, if the Ilva has to pollute "  it is clear that it must be closed,  " he believes. Above all, he would like the government to involve local entities more closely.

A sanitation plan in progress

For now, the steel plant continues to spit out its fumes and fumes. However, a sanitation plan has already been put in place. The special commissioner for sanitation of Taranto, Vera Corbelli has even enlarged the area well beyond the limits set at the start of her mission. Interventions are underway, or planned with “removal” and “recomposition” operations of surface parts of the soil, actions on groundwater, or even on the “small sea”, the inland sea which makes the specificity. from Taranto.

In this ecosystem where one finds, among others, colonies of seahorses, the police station does not carry out invasive interventions, "  we only act on areas where the risk is greater  ", she explains.

But, what is the share of pollution caused by the ex-Ilva? Difficult to say according to Vera Corbelli, “  because there is also the Eni (a refinery, Editor's note) and other structures. The entire industrial system must account for 30-40% of cases of environmental damage in Taranto. "

“Ilva: in Taranto, the impossible choice between employment and health”. A Great Report by Pauline Gleize. Director: Pierre Chaffanjon.

Replay on May 19 and August 17, 2020.

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Industry
• Companies
• Italy
• Employment and Work
• France

On the same subject

Italy / Industry

Italy: ArcelorMittal cancels buyout of Ilva steelworks

Raw materials chronicle

ArcelorMittal, the steel giant is doing better

Hello europe

Italy: Rome separates from the Ilva steel group