(Reporting by Emilio Parodi; editing by James Mackenzie)FILE PHOTO: The Ilva steel plant is seen in TarantoFBI raids California home of YouTube star Jake PaulAmerisourceBergen earnings and revenue beat estimates Why experts doubt Trump's demand for a TikTok 'side payment' will hold water'Just trying to get through the year': K-12 students discuss returning to school amid the coronavirus pandemicStocks open flat after better-than-expected jobless claimsGoldman Says Covid-19 Vaccine Approval Could Upend MarketsStock market news live updates: Stocks open flat after better-than-expected jobless claimsJeff Bezos Sells Another $3B Worth Of Amazon SharesDemocrats propose expanding Fed mandate to reducing racial inequalityFacebook, Twitter remove Trump videos with misleading COVID-19 infoBank of England boss Bailey backs end of furlough scheme Patuanelli said on Saturday that an industrial plan presented by the group last week was not in line with the March agreement and that ArcelorMittal appeared to be using the COVID-19 emergency as an excuse for not sticking to the agreement. REUTERS/Ciro De Luca/Files Otherwise ArcelorMittal said it could withdraw from the deal subject to an agreed payment.The future of the plant has been a headache to successive Italian governments, which have struggled to balance the need to clean up the polluted site in the southern city of Taranto and that to safeguard thousands of jobs in the underdeveloped south.Last year, ArcelorMittal announced it was pulling out of the 2018 takeover agreement after parliament scrapped a guarantee of legal immunity from prosecution over environmental risks during a clean-up of the heavily polluting factory.In response, the Ilva commissioners requested an injunction to block the move in a case that was scheduled to be heard in a Milan court on Friday but which will now be dropped..Under the investment plan, Ilva will invest in lower-carbon steelmaking technologies, with a DRI (Direct reduced Iron) facility to be built, funded and operated by outside investors, and an EAF (Electric Arc Furnace) to be built by ArcelorMittal.Italian trade unions criticised the accord which it said left key questions open on the future of a plant that employs more than 8,000 workers with thousands more dependent as suppliers or contractors. Ilva also operates six state-of-the-art galvanising lines. Unions representing workers at the Ilva steel plant in southern Italy called a strike for Tuesday to protest at reported plans by ArcelorMittal for thousands of job cuts at the struggling facility.
The call by the FIM, FIOM and UILM unions came after Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli accused the group of failing to respect the terms of a rescue agreement signed with the government in March.
Reporting by James Mackenzie; editing by Barbara LewisThe Ilva steel plant is seen in Taranto, Italy, November 11, 2019. "Ilva will be saved for sure. The unions said the plan was unacceptable and demanded “full employment, investment and environmental restructuring” in line with an agreement from 2018. It is the most beautiful in Europe, the most modern, the most powerful; everybody envies it. MILAN (Reuters) - Unions representing workers at the Ilva steel plant in southern Italy called a strike for Tuesday to protest at reported plans by ArcelorMittal for thousands of job cuts at the struggling facility. MILAN (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal said on Wednesday it had signed a deal that would see a significant injection of Italian state funding into the Ilva steelworks and would suspend a bid to walk away from the troubled plant, which it took over in 2018.The accord provides a respite in the four-month dispute that has seen ArcelorMittal threatening to hand back Ilva to the government after disagreements over plans to rescue the plant that was losing 2 million euros (1.71 million pounds) a day last year.The deal will see Rome taking an equity stake at least equal to Arcelor Mittal's remaining liabilities against the original purchase price for Ilva.If the agreement is completed, the original lease and purchase agreement under which ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, took over Ilva will close by May 2022.However final settlement will depend on a new investment plan being executed by November 30. Under that agreement, ArcelorMittal agreed to suspend plans to walk away from the plant in the southern city of Taranto, which it acquired in 2018, in exchange for a significant injection of state funding. "This agreement only resolves legal disputes but does not provide answers on the main nodes of the group's plants", Rocco Palombella, head of metalworkers' union Uilm.
“The plan presented by Arcelor Mittal does not reflect the government’s intentions for Taranto and doesn’t reflect the agreement of March 4,” Patuanelli told RAI state television. But its future has been clouded by the need to restore competitiveness while cleaning up after decades of severe environmental damage.
"The shutdown would make it impossible for the company to implement its industrial plan, operate the Taranto plant and, generally, perform the agreement," said ArcelorMittal. ArcelorMittal Italia è parte di ArcelorMittal, l’azienda siderurgica e mineraria leader nel mondo. "I believe that we must all be proud of the Taranto plant. Italian media reported at the weekend that a new industrial plan presented to the government late on Friday included 5,000 job cuts. Unions are expected to meet Patuanelli by videolink on Tuesday to discuss the situation. ArcelorMittal announces that AM InvestCo and the Ilva Commissioners have today signed an amendment (the ‘Amendment Agreement’) to the original lease and purchase agreement for Ilva.