Taranto (Italy) (AFP)

"Mittal does not disengage, he fled because this factory was very poorly managed," says 41-year-old Pasquale Maggi, a worker at the ArcelorMittal plant in Taranto (south) where the Indian magnate British Lashkmi Mittal wants to withdraw.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday night that the ArceloMittal group, which has taken over the reins of the former Ilva for a year only, had demanded 5,000 job cuts on the site to continue to manage, a proposal "unacceptable" for Rome. Mr. Conte gave ArcelorMittal two days to return to negotiate "with acceptable and tenable proposals".

A meeting bringing together the government, the unions and the local authorities was scheduled for Thursday in Rome to examine this issue considered a priority for Mr Conte.

ArcelorMittal, which took over at the end of 2018 Ilva group with 10,700 employees including 8,200 in Taranto (south) and the rest in Genoa, announced Monday its intention to cancel this acquisition, causing a shock wave in Italy because of fears for the future. 'employment.

Pasquale, a worker at the former Ilva factory, the largest steel company in Europe for 20 years, has just received his letter of dismissal. According to him, "Mittal, before leaving, wants to say, disconnect the last taken". He blames his dismissal for "failures of the management relating to safety including the presence of asbestos" on the site.

"People are anxious, angry, but I see them mostly tired, resigned because the problems of the Ilva are endless and last for decades," he adds.

The arrival of Mittal in Taranto had brought hope. "It was hoped that there was an improvement, from a multinational ... But hey, they took their legs to their neck, because they understood that here there was little improvement to wait, and they were confronted with the reality, "he says.

"The time has come for the state to take charge of the problems it has itself created over the years," said the worker convinced that it is simply necessary to close the site. "The production of steel is declining, the plant is polluted" by "the worst carcinogenic products that exist on earth," he added.

For him, "the Ilva reflects the way of doing and thinking in Italy: we do not solve the problems, we put a modest veil on it".

- "Getting started" -

Emmanuele Palmisaro, 45, technical unemployed for over a year and activist union (minority) USB, is furious against the Indo-British leader of the ArcelorMittal group he wants to "drive out of this territory."

"Not only does Mittal not honor its commitments, but it is also threatening to carry out 5,000 redundancies," he denounces, adding that residents of Taranto, a city hit by a 30% unemployment rate, are "the back to the wall facing health problems and now job difficulties. "

According to him, wages have fallen under the Mittal management, "we live on the assistantship, if we want to revive a city, a territory, we can not live aid". He calculated that the former Ilva had 1,660 people out of work, to whom 1,400 others were added with ArcelorMittal. "That's almost 3,000 people living with help."

Like his colleague Pasquale, he thinks it is up to the state to "finally take control of the situation". It must "guarantee the environment, health and work of course".

The steel site of Taranto is among the most polluted in Europe. It is at the heart of a huge lawsuit, the experts quoted by the Italian prosecutor's office estimating that of the 11,500 deaths recorded in the area between 2004 and 2010, 7,500 were caused by cardio-respiratory diseases and cancers attributable to the toxic emissions of blast furnaces.

© 2019 AFP