Trade unions cancel strike at Taranto

Workers at ArcelorMittal Italia’s former Ilva plant in Taranto have cancelled the strike they had announced last week until 22 March, a trade union source confirms to Kallanish.

The strike began on Friday last week and was supposed to last for 10 days at the Taranto steelworks. Workers complained about the poor measures at the steelworks to fight the spread of coronavirus (see Kallanish 16 March).

However, “… after a meeting with ArcelorMittal Italia last week, workers were reassured and decided with the company to introduce further measures to fight the coronavirus contagion. At the moment there are no cases within the company but workers in the steel sector are afraid to go to work which has caused so many companies to shut down in Italy. During the meeting with the workers ArcelorMittal Italia has been absolutely open-minded regarding further measure and will do everything in its power to protect the company from the virus spread,” the representative tells Kallanish. He adds that the company is reducing its activity and production.