Italy Races to Save Ilva Plant as Workers Storm Factory
11/27/2012 - Workers stormed Europe’s biggest steel plant ILVA on Tuesday, faced with closure over allegations of an environmental disaster, as the Italian government raced to save 20,000 jobs at risk, Reuters reports.
Workers stormed Europe’s biggest steel plant ILVA on Tuesday, faced with closure over allegations of an environmental disaster, as the Italian government raced to save 20,000 jobs at risk.
Management closed the factory’s cold rolling facility, which produces finished steel plates, strips and pipes, after a Monday court ruling to seize the plant’s steel output which the company said would force it to close.
The case puts 20,000 jobs at risk in a region of high unemployment and economic stagnation, and is seen as a test of the ability of the technocrat government of Mario Monti to protect Italy’s heavy industry as it tries to pull the country out of economic crisis.
Unions called a factory-wide strike over the closure of the cold rolling section. Workers who turned up for work on Tuesday morning found the gates locked, and several thousand stormed the facility and began a sit-in, angrily confronting plant manager Adolfo Buffo as he attempted to calm the situation...
