Eurallumina: the sit-in at 60 metres has been called off pending the meeting at the Mimit
The workers are leaving their occupied workstations. Workers and trade unions are remaining vigilant and mobilised as they await the next meeting
An end to the occupation of the kiln at a height of 60 metres, and the utmost vigilance as we await the next meeting scheduled for the end of the month. That is when it will become clear whether the measures announced to ‘save’ Eurallumina in Portovesme can be put into practice. That is to say, the allocation by the State of the resources needed to keep the factory running (which, with its plants shut down and pending the €350 million revitalisation project, is currently carrying out groundwater remediation) and to pay wages and suppliers.
The meeting at Mimit
This is what emerged from the technical meeting at the Mimit, convened to take stock of the dispute and subsequently adjourned until the end of the month. “‘The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) has announced a formal commitment to provide funding which we hope will be made available by the State until 31 December,’ says Nino D’Orso of the regional CISL. ‘We will now need to quantify the requirements and then determine how much funding will be needed, with particular attention to environmental issues’. Not only that: “Furthermore, interest has also been expressed by three potential international investors in taking over the plant. At this stage, we need to understand what will be confirmed during the next meeting scheduled for 29 or 30 October.”
Race against time
A race against time to avert the risk of the company’s insolvency; under the control of the Russian firm Rusal, it had been involved in the processing of bauxite into alumina – the first stage in the aluminium supply chain – until operations were halted in March 2009 due to high energy costs. Since then, there have been a series of revitalisation projects and initiatives to unblock procedures that had stalled or were progressing at a snail’s pace.
The company’s exhibition
For some time now, however, the company has had to contend with the freezing of financial resources ordered by the relevant authority as part of the sanctions against Russia. For the past year, Rusal has stopped paying the more than 2 million euros a month needed to keep the Sardinian plant running. ‘All the funds needed to ensure business continuity – which the state should be providing – to keep the factory running have not materialised,’ the trade unions claim. ‘In this context, the debt has naturally grown to such an extent that the company is now at risk of insolvency.’
An emergency that prompted the workers to occupy the calcining kiln, 60 metres above ground, on the eve of the technical meeting at the Mimit.
