“After six months of negotiations, no more tactics”. This was stated by the secretary general of the Fim Cisl, Marco Bentivogli, at the end of the discussion at the Ministry of Economic Development on the Ilva dispute.
“The government has asked the parties to be available for close meetings to try and see if the conditions exist for reaching an agreement – explains the trade unionist – ArcelorMittal has updated the parties with respect to the antitrust procedure and the Dpcm on the environment. On the latter, she confirmed that she is continuing to work together with the commission to respond to the requests made, on this front May 23 is the deadline for reaching a solution and she is confident of reaching a solution more quickly. Today, ArcelorMittal specified, we are in a situation in which Ilva is losing over 300 million euros a year, which is why we must aim for an industrial plan that will once again make Ilva competitive and profitable in the shortest possible time”.
To do this, “we have to work on an agreement that brings together an industrial and employment plan. For this reason, we will make ourselves available as early as next week to work on these issues to try to reach an agreement ”, he added.
According to Bentivogli, “we are at the point where we need to try to make a synthesis. 6 months have passed since the start of the negotiations and the time has come to understand if there are the conditions to try to enter a final phase and attempt a possible agreement within the month of April”.
There are several open knots: “Employment remains the decisive element to reach an agreement – the trade unionist underlines again – The confrontation must go on but safeguarding all the workers of Ilva and related industries. The agreement must then contain a time schedule of investments both on an industrial level (with investment specifications and restart area by area) and on an environmental level which must be an integral part of the agreement. Subsequently, it is necessary to have continuity in the employment relationship, preserving the normative and contractual elements of each individual worker. As in all similar disputes, opportunities may be offered, only on a voluntary basis, but the plan must outlaw any layoffs”.
These are nodes in the negotiation “and letting them 'mature' doesn't solve them but aggravates them. Time in this dispute is not a secondary component, it is necessary to tighten the meetings to look for possible convergences and close. Nothing stands in the way of making an agreement before the antitrust, even in the face of the international scenario of the steel market in the world. After the exclusion of Europe but the confirmation of Asian producers from tariffs on the United States, Europe will be even more hunting ground for Asian producers. This is a further element to do well but also to do quickly”.
Finally Bentivogli reiterated: "The debate on the presence of the CDP must be done seriously and according to clear purposes, evoking this instrument, without these pre-conditions, does not make much sense as it is even more serious to think that the Apulian aqueduct can be useful for participatory governance , also due to the previous aqueduct which, as Salvemini recalled, has given more to eat than to drink in history".
Update of the negotiation to April 4 at the Mise.
