Acciaierie d'Italia

Former Ilva, lay-off continues but still no agreement with trade unions

Meeting at the Ministry of Labour: extension of Cigs until February 2027 for up to 4,500 employees, of which 3,800 in Taranto

by Domenico Palmiotti

22 April 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Cigs economy supplement secured until October
Blast furnace 4 restart delayed
Unions' reactions

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

A new tranche of extraordinary redundancy fund at Acciaierie d'Italia, the former Ilva, is starting. It will concern for one year, from 1 March to the end of February 2027, a maximum of 4,450 employees in the entire group, of which 3,800 in Taranto. The 22 April meeting at the Ministry of Labour, however, closed with a failure to reach an agreement between the company and the unions, as happened last time.

Economic supplement to Cigs secured until October

In addition, the economic supplement to the redundancy fund, which makes the social shock absorbers cover 70% of the salary of Acciaierie's employees, is only guaranteed until October for the time being, but calculating the actual utilisation of the fund. The actual utilisation, in fact, currently involves around 3,500 employees in the group. One thousand less than the maximum number. If the quota of 3,500 laid-off workers remains stable, the 11.4 million provided for integration by decree number 180 of last 1 December, converted into law on 22 January, will make it possible to arrive until October, leaving only the final two months of the year and the initial two of next year uncovered. If, on the other hand, the number of unemployed eventually rises, coverage will end earlier. But it is a risk that should not be taken because, as the Ministry of Labour was told, with the restarting of blast furnace 4, which is currently shut down for work, the number of active blast furnaces in the factory will rise to two and this will lead to the employment of more workers.

Blast furnace 4 restart postponed

With regard to blast furnace 4, which was stopped at the end of February, it was announced that it will no longer restart at the end of the month as originally planned, but by June. During the meeting at the ministry, it was also announced that Acciaierie will challenge the order of Taranto's mayor, Piero Bitetti, who, for environmental reasons, ordered the steel mill's thermoelectric plant to be shut down within 30 days at the Lecce Regional Administrative Court by the end of this week. The company is now asking the Tar to suspend the order as a precautionary measure.

The fact that the economic supplement to the fund, which is also received by the employees of Ilva under extraordinary administration but financed in another way, is currently partial and that there are still no answers from the government on the more general issue of the former Ilva, has raised criticism from the metalworking trade unions.

Unions' reactions

For Biagio Prisciano of Fim Cisl, 'the distances at the table were not approachable. What we asked for last week, there were no answers. So many themes and points that we had included in the last agreement signed, are still missing. There were simply no conditions to reach an agreement. At the same time, however,' Prisciano adds, 'we are securing the workers with the redundancy fund and with an advance from the company, and we are buffering the integration of the fund with a cover. The latter will be taken from the resources already allocated by the December 2025 decree. It is clear that these resources are exhausted and the issue of resources arises, once again, which is fundamental. This coverage will in fact last until October 2026, but since we are talking about maximum numbers, 4,450 unemployed, everything will be sanctioned by the disbursement of the same fund'.

According to Guglielmo Gambardella of Uilm, 'the extension of the extraordinary redundancy fund certifies the government's failure to revive the former Ilva. For almost two years now, Mimit has been stubbornly looking for potential or unlikely investors without having rehabilitated the former Ilva. AdI in extraordinary administration continues to manage the largest steel group in Italia and Europe with very few economic resources, which does not allow sufficient investment in plants, safety and the environment, while the workers continue to suffer from the social shock absorbers without any prospects'.

'The government,' Gambardella continued, 'does not want to take note of the dramatic situation in which factories and workers, both direct and indirect, find themselves. Starting with the Taranto plant, there are entire areas closed due to lack of safety. Without resources and with only one blast furnace in operation, the company is slowly coming to a standstill. We are once again calling on the government to take the decision to temporarily nationalise the former Ilva and implement an industrial plan to restore value to the company, as envisaged in the commissioners' plan, and implement a social plan to compensate workers who have suffered the consequences of this dispute since 2012'.

Finally, for Loris Scarpa of Fiom CGIL, 'we need to get out of extraordinary administration because they are not even able to guarantee social shock absorbers and decent coverage for the workers. So let's define a public company with public subsidiaries, if private companies want to be there too, let them be there, and let's finally give this idea of a relaunch, of decarbonisation, of health and safety for the workers. This way it is just a bloodbath. We, as unions, are fighting in all fora so that this story does not end and returns to being dignified for people, but the government is decreeing the end.