Former Ilva, extraordinary redundancy fund extension requested for another 12 months

Another 12 months of extraordinary redundancy fund are looming in the Acciaierie d'Italia group, the former Ilva. In view of the expiry of the current redundancy fund at the end of the month, the company has asked for its extension from 1 March for the same maximum number, i.e. 4,450 employees in the group, including 3,803 in Taranto, 280 in Genoa, 170 in Novi Ligure, plus smaller numbers at the other sites. There are currently 9,702 AdI employees.

The current lay-off for 4,450 is the one on which there was no agreement between the company and unions in September, unlike previous times. For the trade unions, since the production scenario had not changed and the factory continued to operate with only one blast furnace, blast furnace 4, the previous lay-off numbers were to be maintained without increasing them. The numbers to which the unions referred were those of the March 2025 agreement for 3,062 employees on lay-off, of which 2,680 in Taranto. Whereas 4,450 was arrived at with the modification of a previous company request, never discussed, for 4,050 employees.

The request for the renewal of the fund coincides with a particularly delicate phase for AdI and for the Taranto complex in particular. In fact, negotiations are underway between the commissioners of the two extraordinary administrations, Ilva and Acciaierie d'Italia, respectively owner and operator of the plants, with the American fund Flacks Group, a candidate to take over the entire group. Flacks' offer was considered better by the commissioners themselves and by the supervisory committees of the two extraordinary administrations than that of its competitor Bedrock, another American fund aiming to take over the entire group. And in recent days, the Minister of Enterprise, Adolfo Urso, announced that he had formally authorised the commissioners to 'start negotiations with a view to selling the steel complex to Flacks Group LLC'. In this communication from Mimit the novelty, rather than the formal authorisation to negotiate with Flacks, is the reference to the 'consolidation of possible industrial partnerships' and 'trade union consultations'.

The government is pushing for Flacks to find an industrial partner with industry experience. Open talks revolve around a possible partnering by Metinvest, Danieli and Marcegaglia. Each would have a distinct role: Metinvest as supplier of raw materials, Danieli for the technology of the electric furnaces and pre-reduction plants - the iron pre-diduct would in fact form the charge for the electric furnaces - and Marcegaglia, as transformer, for some plants in the north that produce pipes. Marcegaglia had already made an offer to that effect. The three subjects should eventually enter with a minority share in the new company structure, where, sources close to the dossier explain, the State would also enter. The public share was initially estimated at 40 per cent, but could also be lower. Flacks, for its part, would commit to investments of 4 billion, to produce 4 million tonnes and to hire 8,500 employees, 6,000 of whom immediately and the rest once the company is fully operational.

Finally, in Taranto, no more coke has been produced for the blast furnaces for a couple of weeks as three coke batteries are stopped and kept in pre-heating. This stoppage, which has never happened in the more than 60-year history of the factory and which has prompted the former Ilva to buy coke on the market, is due to the replacement of the catalytic reactor of the desulphurisation plant for treating the coke oven gas. The work will be completed in April. Finally, blast furnace 2, which has been inactive for a long time and has undergone major refurbishment work costing several tens of millions, including a new crucible, refractory and cooling system, should be restarted within this month.