ArcelorMittal Ilva may cut 5,000 jobs after the Italian government rejected an industrial plan presented by the steelmaker late last week.
In late May, the Italian government had agreed to underwrite the steelmaker’s restructuring costs associated with continuing the Ilva mill after it presented a concrete plan to the government. However, the lawmakers rejected the plan shared by ArcelorMittal last week.
The plant, which has over 8,000 employees in addition to thousands of contractors and suppliers, has struggled to resume operations normally following decades of environmental neglect that has been the source of acrimony between the world’s largest steelmaker and the country’s government.
Unions have taken umbrage with the industrial plan and demanded job protection.
The plant previously produced 10mn mt of steel per annum, but output fell to around half of that in recent years after officials stepped in and demanded an environmental clean-up.