Ex Ilva, unions break industrial relations with ArcelorMittal

• Ex Ilva, no to Arcelor Mittal's piano. Patuanelli will summon the summits. Striking factories
• Arcelor Mittal, strike of all establishments against the redundancy plan

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Fiom, Fim and Uilm have decided to terminate industrial relations with ArcelorMittal. According to what is learned from union sources, the decision was taken after the Factory Council this morning: the unions have decided not to confront the steel multinational anymore.

The Factory Council, which met after Monday's extraordinary session, was called to take stock of the situation after the call conference that the unions had yesterday with ministers Stefano Patuanelli (Mise), Roberto Gualtieri (Mef) and Nunzia Catalfo (Work ). Call in which the Government rejected the 2020-2025 plan arrived on Friday evening by ArcelorMittal, judging it inadequate, unsatisfactory and very far from the basis of the commitments undertaken by ArcelorMittal itself with Ilva in extraordinary administration (expression of ownership and therefore of the State) in the agreement of the March 4.

After yesterday's 24-hour strike that ended at 7am this morning, the board ruled out industrial relations with Mittal. Finally, the strike of the USB union continues in the factory which, again against the redundancies announced by the company, triggered 48 hours of abstinence from work from 7 yesterday which ends at 7 tomorrow.

Uilm: no alternative solutions from the government
"A situation that has lasted for 8 years, the workers are exasperated and the government does not receive alternative solutions to the plan presented by Mittal on Friday. ArcelorMittal without an explicit declaration wants to leave and bring the plants to a shutdown, lay off 5,000 workers and block environmental remediation. The government must prevent it at all costs. " This was stated by Rocco Palombella, Uilm general secretary, in his speech on Radio Anch'Io. "ArcelorMittal is a world leader in the production of steel - he underlines - with the decision to close Taranto can bring production to other European sites of the Group. The multinational wants to acquire our market by bringing production out of our country but this would represent the end of the Italian steel industry and an environmental, employment and economic disaster ".

"We take note of the dramatic situation - concludes Palombella - and we find alternative solutions to what Mittal has proposed. The entry of the State is needed, with a role of control and co-management together with business groups in the sector really interested in relaunching the former Ilva, through a production that protects the environment, which safeguards all employment levels, direct and indirect, and the future of entire communities ".

Todde (Mise): the state must enter to save the supply chain
"The state must enter because it is a supply chain to be safeguarded and together with the supply chain there is a supply chain. We must find serious partners. ArcelorMittal's plan is unacceptable". So Alessandra Todde, undersecretary of the Ministry of Economic Development, also on Radio too.

"The situation is very complex. All the steel in Italy has a big problem - he underlined - Are there any competition issues and environmental issues to be solved. We must re-establish the steel. They are layered crisis for years. There are no magic wands , I am an engineer, solutions must be found step by step, brick by brick. We need to have a strategic plan for the steel industry in Italy ".

Pay slip cut by the cig
ArcelorMittal has regularly uploaded this morning on the company portal, in the box of each employee, the paycheck for May, including that of those who are in Covid layoffs, and in May - according to data provided by the company to the unions they were more than 3,200 on a staff of 8,200. For cassintegrati, it is another month at 8-900 euros on average. It can fluctuate more or less than the employee's level of classification. To give an example, a fifth super level will receive around 1000 euros this month including the installment of the corporate bonus, agreed some time ago by the unions with the company and divided into installments, and will suffer, compared to the standard pay, a loss of about 550 EUR. Especially if he made the whole month of May in layoffs. But the super fifth is a medium-high level, while many employees are in the underlying levels and therefore take less, 8-900 euros. A sickened salary that, for several weeks already, has been a source of protests, tensions and social unease. There was evidence of this on Monday morning and yesterday, when a large representation of workers at the cash desk gathered outside the steel management. Many workers have told their stories of difficulties, including mortgages, bills and families to maintain, single-income, forced to seek financial help from their parents. The fact that the workers found the paycheck confirmation this morning (which goes into payment on the 12th of each month) was not entirely obvious.

On the eve, in fact, concerns had arisen among workers and union delegates about a failure to pay by ArcelorMittal, which with regards to the layoffs is anticipating it to employees. Fears certainly the result of what has happened in the last few days, with the company that has asked for another 9 weeks of layoffs (this time ordinary and not Covid) for about 8100 units in Taranto since July 6, as well as presented to the Government a plan that provides for 3200 redundancies, with the reduction of the employed to 7500, and the non-reintegration to work of the Cassintegrati of Ilva in extraordinary administration, which are another 1800 workers between Taranto and Genoa. However, about the risk of a non-payment, there were actually no signs or signs, but fears, due to the heavy general climate, were still widespread. Also for this reason, many ArcelorMittal employees hurried to see on the company portal if there was a pay slip or not. And the fact that he found it was a hotbed of less tension.