“Glencore breached an agreement with the ministry without informing us.”
There is open war between the Swiss multinational and the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (Mimit) following the closure of the zinc line in Portovesme , stopped on 23 December, eight days ahead of the announced date of 31 December .
The company's press release ("Technical and safety reasons, parties informed in a timely and transparent manner") was flatly denied by unspecified "sources" from the ministry led by Adolfo Urso.
" What the company communicated does not correspond to what happened. It is not true at all that the ministry was informed in a 'timely and transparent' manner ," specifies the Mimit. "The technical delegation that was present on December 20 for the visit to the company agreed at the table of December 5 was informed of the company's decision regarding the early shutdown of the zinc line only after it had been assumed and communicated to the unions, and by them to the press ."
Glencore itself, the ministry states, "admitted that the decision had been taken exclusively by the company without any analysis or request from third parties responsible for the checks, documentation requested several times by the ministry and still not received ".
Mimit recalls the agreement reached on the operation of the zinc line until December 31st "pending the evaluations of possible buyers willing to maintain zinc production" and underlines. " The decision has clearly violated an agreement reached with motivations that at present appear instrumental ".
"The ministry is available to resume dialogue with the company but only on the basis of compliance with the commitments already made," he concludes.
With the official stop to the zinc line , the company is laying off 1,200 workers . On December 27 , workers, unions, with Alessandra Todde and ministers Adolfo Urso (Mimit) and Marina Calderone (Labor) will be in front of the gates of Portovesme srl to defend the right to work and the operability of an industrial hub that risks disappearing.
There is talk of investors ready to take over the zinc line, but at the moment these are only hypotheses and there are no names. What is certain is that the early closure of the site , as underlined by the unions, « seriously compromises the possibility of access to the plants by potential investors interested in the acquisition and relaunch of the production activities ».
(Unioneonline/L)