Federacciai opens at the former Ilva. Antonio Gozzi, president of the association, said that those interested include practically almost all Italian steelmakers, therefore Arvedi, Marcegaglia, Feralpi, Duferco, Beltrame, Lucchini and others. The availability for a discussion with the Government is immediate, certainly before October, when the hot area will have to be stopped.
However, the recovery and launch of the plants do not include those affected by the blockade of the hot area, underlines Gozzi. Meanwhile, the former Ilva related companies, following the decree of the Milan Court of Appeal on the closure of the hot processing area in Taranto, are preparing collective layoffs.
Ex Ilva, towards the Italian consortium
The Federacciai presidential council has given a mandate to president Antonio Gozzi to transmit an expression of interest for the former Ilva. An interest, underlines the note, subordinated to the verification of a series of enabling conditions, necessary to allow the industrial intervention. There was also immediate availability for a dialogue with the Government.
Among the steel companies involved are “practically almost all”, including:
- Arvedi;
- Marcegaglia;
- Feralpi;
- Duferco;
- Beltrame;
- Lucchini.
The proposal
In the proposal there should only be the cold area. In an interview for Repubblica, Gozzi underlines how everything depends on dialogue with the Government. “We need to understand if the enabling conditions, of various types, exist on which our interest is conditioned. The first is to redefine the perimeter of the tender”, he declares.
And he explains:
We are interested in everything that comes downstream of the slabs, including hot rolling mills, not in blast furnaces and continuous casting steelworks, which we don’t want to know anything about. If they stay in the race we can’t participate.
Shutting down the hot area: towards layoffs
However, the situation of the workers in the hot area does not change. As per the decree of the Court of Appeal of Milan, this must be turned off by October 26th.
The related companies, in a state of mobilization, are moving towards requesting a collective dismissal. They make this known from the Permanent Table for Taranto, where entrepreneurs are looking for solutions to avoid the employment and economic disaster.
In a note:
The gravity of an unprecedented crisis was underlined. The feeling has developed that the effects caused by the end of the operation of the hot area will not remain confined to the Taranto area.
In fact, blocking the hot area will also lead to other slowdowns or stops. We are talking about the cold area, because “due to lack of steel supply it will be the next to stop” we read.
