Former Ilva: company raises Cassa claim on another 400 units in the group

Acciaierie d'Italia in extraordinary administration - the former Ilva - is raising the demand for the extraordinary redundancy fund in the group ahead of the confrontation with metalworkers' unions on Thursday 18 September at the Ministry of Labour. Currently, the lay-off fund is regulated by an agreement reached at the ministry last March that provides for 3,420 temporarily suspended workers in the group, of which 2,680 in Taranto. The March agreement, however, foreshadowed a restarting company and instead the fire in early May at blast furnace 1 - and the consequent seizure without authority ordered by the public prosecutor - blew up all plans. The former Ilva went back on the march with only one blast furnace, Blast Furnace 4. Which, moreover, in the afternoon of 15 September, due to the breakage of a rubber conveyor belt, a belt used to load the materials necessary for the production of pig iron, was also temporarily stopped and was given by the company to restart in the night between the 16th and 17th.

However, beyond the specific episode that happened at blast furnace 4, the basic fact remains that the company is proceeding at a very slow pace while waiting for the other two blast furnaces, 1 and 2, to become operational again. For this reason, in June the company asked to raise the maximum number of redundancy funds from 3,420 to 4,050 in the group, of which 3,500 in Taranto, a request that was not, however, examined in depth with the unions because the meeting at the Ministry of Labour between July and August was postponed several times. Now on 15 September, in the run-up to the meeting on the 18th, which is currently confirmed, Acciaierie has further modified the lay-off request by adding another 400 units. Therefore, the new maximum number of employees to be suspended is 4,450, of which 3,800 in Taranto and 647 in the other plants. Of these, 280 are Genoa.

In the communication made to the ministries, trade unions, and the regions hosting former Ilva plants and activities, the company states that 'the request for an increase in the social security cushion is functional to counterbalance the worsening of the imbalance in production factors'. Specifically," the company writes, "while the total workforce is almost stable (9,741 employees), the Taranto plant and the production units downstream of it are marching with a structure that - at present and in the medium term - is characterised and conditioned by a production of cast iron that is seriously insufficient and inconsistent with operating and management costs.

For the company, 'the production flow of pig iron is today guaranteed by the running of only blast furnace 4, which in the medium term will be flanked by blast furnace 2, subject to maintenance work. The production start-up of this additional blast furnace,' the company explains, 'will allow, in the company's plans, to carry out the scheduled technical work on blast furnace 4. Consequently, the start-up of blast furnace 2 will not immediately lead to a significant increase in production, an objective that can only be achieved with the restoration of full functionality of blast furnace 1 as well, at the end of the requested release from seizure and the necessary work to ensure the functionality of that blast furnace as well.

"At the end of this path, the company expects to be able to restore satisfactory production levels which, although in themselves unsuitable with respect to the final objective of rebalancing, would nevertheless be able - potentially - to generate a cash flow such as to make fixed costs more sustainable". For the company, 'the unchangeable production volume in place is progressively aggravating the financial imbalance induced by the worsening cost/income ratio, risking to determine the unsustainability of the company's management'.