ArcelorMittal Italia is restarting some cold rolling mills in Taranto as 630 workers that had been temporarily laid off are resuming normal working hours starting on 11 May, Kallanish learns from union sources.
The company is boosting production to complete orders received before the lockdown. The plate mill will be restarted for one month approximately together with the pickling facilities on 11 May and two galvanizing lines that will be operational starting on 14 and 18 May. The strip mills will be idled for 2 weeks for maintenance works. Depending on new orders all equipment will be gradually restarted, a union source says.
In a release sent to Kallanish, the Italian unions express concern however regarding the closure of ArcelorMittal’s southern French plant in Fos-sur-Mer. The site is idling its second blast furnace due to a collapse in orders (see Kallanish passim). The 2,500 workers at Fos-sur-Mer fear that the temporary idling of the mill will become permanent as happened in the past for the other French site in Florange, the Italian trade unions suggest. Two third of the production from Fos-sur-Mer goes into the Italian and Spanish markets. Fos supplies ArcelorMittal’s rolling mills in Aviles in Spain and in Genova, Conegliano and Novi Ligure in Italy, the release says.
Considering the Covid-19 emergency and the deteriorated global steel market, the unions are asking for a meeting with the Italian authorities regarding the future investments and the industrial plan to relaunch Taranto. The unions fear that the current negotiations between the Italian government and ArcelorMittal may reach a breaking point. Questions to ArcelorMittal in Italy from Kallanish on the matter remained unanswered by publication deadline.
