Lucia Morselli, the chief executive officer (CEO) at ArcelorMittal Italia, met with trade union representatives from Fim, Fiom, Uilm, and Usb over the past two days to discuss employment and safety concerns on September 24.
Earlier in the week members of the trade unions had blockaded ArcelorMittal’s factory gates to prevent inbound and outbound trafficking of goods, which then extended to other supply chain workers as a sign of solidarity, according to local media reports.
At the negotiations on September 24, Usb provincial coordinator Francesco Rizzo walked away from talks, which Morselli cited as an “unacceptable lack of respect,” and demanding that the company exit their management of the Taranto steelworks.
Local media reports suggest that the company might activate a clause that allows ArcelorMittal to exit Ilva from November 1 upon payment of a €500mn ($552mn) penalty. If the company decides to persevere it will have to invest €1.25bn in the plant and €1.15bn for environmental cleanup.
ArcelorMittal Italia’s Taranto steelworks has an installed capacity of 11mn mt of crude steel per year and operates four blast furnaces.