Steelworks

Former Ilva Taranto, how the break between government and unions came about

Meeting between the government and trade unions. Minister Urso, according to union sources, said that 'confidential negotiations' were underway with a fourth operator interested in the former Ilva, after the exit of the Azerbaijanis of Baku Steel and in addition to the American fund Bedrock, which however proposed significant cuts and Flacks

by Rome Editorial Staff

11 November 2025Articolo aggiornato alle 21:40 di martedì 11 novembre

Ex Ilva, Urso "Al lavoro per piano industriale e occupazionale"

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

De Palma: 'A plan to close the former Ilva, we will oppose it'
Palombella (Uilm): 'Unacceptable plan to cash in on workers and close down'
Current staff

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

There is no government plan: they just want to close the former Ilva. The trade unions are very hard at the exit of the confrontation with the executive on the Taranto factory that took place on Tuesday 11 November after a day of discussions from which it emerged that the cassa integrazione for workers in January could reach 6,000 with a substantial increase already by the end of December: from 4,550 to around 5,700, with income supplementation, due to the remodelling of activities.

In the evening, at the untroubled end of the negotiations, Palazzo Chigi also intervened: the government expressed regret that the proposal to continue the discussion on the former Ilva, also with regard to the technical aspects that emerged during the discussion, was not accepted by the unions. "The executive," reads the note released in the evening, "confirms in any case the willingness to continue the in-depth examination of all aspects and even the most controversial issues raised by the unions to the proposals put forward by the government for the operational management of the company in this transitional phase.

But theunions spoke without nuance of a 'closure' project despite assurances of a potential 'secret' new buyer.

The meeting between the government and trade unions ended around 9.40 p.m., and lasted 3 and a half hours. The meeting was chaired by the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council, Alfredo Mantovano, and present for the executive were the Ministers for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, and Labour and Social Policies, Marina Calderone. Also present was the Councillor for Relations with Social Partners, Stefano Caldoro. For the unions, representatives from Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl, Uilm-Uil, Ugl metalmechanics, Usb and Federmanager attended. Also present were representatives of Invitalia, the extraordinary commissioners of Acciaierie d'Italia and the extraordinary commissioners of the Ilva Group. At the end of the summit, the unions decided to leave the table.

De Palma: 'A plan to close the former Ilva, we will oppose it'

"The government has in fact presented a closure plan. There are thousands of workers who will end up on redundancy payments, there is no financial support for revitalisation and decarbonisation. We have decided unitedly as Fim, Fiom and Uilm to go to the workers and explain that we will oppose the government's choice with all possible instruments'. This is what Fiom secretary general Michele De Palma said at the end of the table with the government on the former Ilva.

Palombella (Uilm): 'Unacceptable plan to cash in on workers and close down'

"There is nothing. Nor is there a business plan. They spoke of a 'short' plan: because the time left before closure is very short. So we decided to go to the workers and explain that this plan cannot be discussed or amended. It is an unacceptable plan because it starts from a premise: to lead to the closure of the former Ilva. And we do not want to be responsible for that. So far we have followed them: now they condemn the workers to an inexorable closure'. So says the secretary general of Uilm, Rocco Palombella, at the exit of the confrontation with the government. Is it a break with the government? "We did not want to break anything," says Rocco Palombella, who maintains that the unions, despite what was asked by the undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, wanted to continue. "We decided consciously and with great responsibility to break off the confrontation and listen to the workers. It was a tough and in some ways announced confrontation. They presented us with unacceptable proposals because they start from one premise: to use the workers to make cash. They will exponentially increase the number of workers on redundancy payments to 6,000 within a few months. And the serious thing is that there is no explanation for all the open tenders'.

Ex Ilva, Palombella (Uilm): "Piano del Governo inaccettabile, porta alla chiusura dell'azienda"

Uliano, Fim-Cisl: 'Dramatic situation'

"We will present ourselves to the workers by explaining this dramatic situation that is looming, because to speak of 6,000 people being laid off out of 10,000 is in fact a questioning of the continuation of the production activity of this plant. So with the workers we will decide what action to take. We are of the opinion that all initiatives must be taken to have these positions removed,' said Ferdinando Uliano secretary general of the Fim-Cisl after the government-union meeting. "We came to this meeting hoping for concrete answers regarding a recovery plan, with bidders who, as of today, we do not even know what kind of prospects they have in mind as an industrial plan,' he explained, 'and we have had the surprise of the government placing another 1,200 people on redundancy pay in three days, when nothing has changed with respect to the failed agreement of a few weeks ago, with the prospect of stopping an activity, that of the battery of the coking plants. Here we are not even in a position to find a new buyer, we are at the point of questioning the restart plan that we had shared with the government and for which they had committed to financing it'.

Ex Ilva, De Palma (Fiom): "Contrasteremo questo piano di chiusura da parte del Governo"

A fourth operator interested in the former Ilva

Meanwhile, from what has been learnt, the further recourse to the Cig from 1 January will be due to the shutdown of the coking plants for the work necessary for decarbonisation. But the unions' explanations were not enough. Nor were they convinced by the announcement of 'secret' negotiations with a new party interested in taking over the plants. According to union sources, Urso spoke of four parties potentially interested in the steel group, again citing Baku Steel plus the two funds that came forward in September: Flacks Group and Bedrock. To these should be added another party that is conducting negotiations covered by extreme secrecy.

Current staff

At present, the actual workforce at the plant is 7,938 (of which 5,371 blue collar workers, 1,704 middle management, 863 equivalent) and approximately 4,500 are laid off. The increase is due to the shutdown of the coking plant for the work necessary for de-carbonisation.