According to reports in Italian media, Italy’s leading steelmaker Acciaierie d’Italia, formerly known as Ilva, had been engulfed in another workers’ strike this week. On 21 November, workers in Taranto went on strike for 24 hours and are planning more action to protest against the perceived lack of government support for the steelmaking joint venture. They are calling for swift state intervention to nationalize the steelmaker. Reports quoted UILM union sources as saying that “In March, the company said it would ramp up output to 5.7 million tonnes; we are now at slightly over 3 million tonnes. The steelmaking plant in Taranto is only working with two blast furnaces while almost all finishing lines remain idle. Workers are asking the government to respect its initial commitment and inject cash into the company to make ArcelorMittal a minority shareholder, sources say. Amid a liquidity crisis, Acciaierie d’Italia’s management recently decided to suspend its use of contractors. This, on top of almost 3,000 workers being temporarily laid off, is putting in doubt production continuity. The steelmaker is said not to be paying many of its debts. Invitalia signed an agreement in May with joint venture partner ArcelorMittal to delay the completion of its acquisition of a majority stake in Acciaierie d’Italia. According to the 2020 agreement between the two parties, Invitalia invested the first tranche of EUR 400 million last year in AM InvestCo, the ArcelorMittal subsidiary that agreed to purchase the former Ilva plant. This provided Invitalia with joint control over AM InvestCo. The second tranche of up to EUR 680 million was due to be paid on the closing of AM InvestCo’s purchase of Ilva, the deadline for which was end-May 2022. This would have raised Invitalia’s shareholding in AM InvestCo to 60%, giving it control over Acciaierie d’Italia. The payment of the second tranche has however been postponed to 31 May 2024 In 2021, Acciaierie d’Italia posted turnover of EUR 3.3 billion, up from EIR 1.6 billion in 2020 with crude steel production of 4.1 million tonnes of crude steel, an increase from 3.4 million tonnes in 2020.
According to reports in Italian media, Italy’s leading steelmaker Acciaierie d’Italia, formerly known as Ilva, had been engulfed in another workers’ strike this week. On 21 November, workers in Taranto went on strike for 24 hours and are planning more action to protest against the perceived lack of government support for the steelmaking joint venture. They are calling for swift state intervention to nationalize the steelmaker. Reports quoted UILM union sources as saying that “In March, the company said it would ramp up output to 5.7 million tonnes; we are now at slightly over 3 million tonnes. The steelmaking plant in Taranto is only working with two blast furnaces while almost all finishing lines remain idle. Workers are asking the government to respect its initial commitment and inject cash into the company to make ArcelorMittal a minority shareholder, sources say. Amid a liquidity crisis, Acciaierie d’Italia’s management recently decided to suspend its use of contractors. This, on top of almost 3,000 workers being temporarily laid off, is putting in doubt production continuity. The steelmaker is said not to be paying many of its debts. Invitalia signed an agreement in May with joint venture partner ArcelorMittal to delay the completion of its acquisition of a majority stake in Acciaierie d’Italia. According to the 2020 agreement between the two parties, Invitalia invested the first tranche of EUR 400 million last year in AM InvestCo, the ArcelorMittal subsidiary that agreed to purchase the former Ilva plant. This provided Invitalia with joint control over AM InvestCo. The second tranche of up to EUR 680 million was due to be paid on the closing of AM InvestCo’s purchase of Ilva, the deadline for which was end-May 2022. This would have raised Invitalia’s shareholding in AM InvestCo to 60%, giving it control over Acciaierie d’Italia. The payment of the second tranche has however been postponed to 31 May 2024 In 2021, Acciaierie d’Italia posted turnover of EUR 3.3 billion, up from EIR 1.6 billion in 2020 with crude steel production of 4.1 million tonnes of crude steel, an increase from 3.4 million tonnes in 2020.
