Down the chimney not as a sign of surrender, but as deed of trust to the government. But do not think that it has unlimited validity. Why i four workers from the Portovesme srl which since dawn on Tuesday had occupied the chimney of the plant “kss” of the manufacturing plant of lead And zincare ready for new initiatives in the event of the interlocutions announced (during a meeting that took place today, via video conference) by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy to resolve the dispute skyrocketing energy costs should not produce quickly deeds concrete. The workers made it clear this afternoon when they announced their decision to get off the factory chimney. TO one hundred meters high have remained four days in a rowenduring all imaginable inconvenienceincluding those of a weather condition that also in the south western area of the Sardinia precipitated the temperatures and brought heavy storms. Down from the chimney, for now, but determined to resume the protest as in the best tradition of the workers of this part of the island where – always – the workers have implemented extreme forms of struggle who have written pages of trade union history.
“The meeting laid the foundations for a path that will lead in a very short time to a face-to-face meeting in Rome”, said the workers who referred to the commitment made by the undersecretary Fausta Bergamot. That is: “Next week the government will start a series of inter-ministerial discussions with the Region, the company and energy sector operators, convening the following week a crisis table in attendance”, as stated in the minutes released after the meeting which was also attended by regional administrators (including the president Christian Solinas), Confindustriatop management of Portovesme srl and the national and local trade union organisations Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl, Uiltec, CGIL, CISL, Uil and corporate Rsu. For the government – which is also asking the company controlled by the Swiss multinational Glencore not to interrupt production – “it is essential to identify, together with the Region, the company and operators in the energy sector, a structural solution for the cost of energy of the Portovesme srl company so that the production continuity of the Portovesme and San Gavino plants (about 70 kilometers away, in the Medio Campidano area) until the entry into operation of the reconversion of the facilities”.
In short: the comparison is open, but to find solutions we have to wait for next week. In the meantime, the unions ensure that attention will remain very high, precisely to avoid finding yourself again faced with yet another sterile reassurance. The territory, and the entire island, cannot allow this. The clamorous protest of these days – which also sees the contract workers who received the first letters of dismissalthen withdrawn – is linked to expensive energy which made the cost skyrocket up to 700 euros per megawatt hour. Unsustainable, above all in consideration of the fact that for an energy-intensive factory such as Portovesme, energy is on par with a raw material. Precisely this prompted the company to start a process of rationalization with the stop of80 percent of the assets and the start of the redundancy fund for the 1300 direct employees.
A large group of representatives of the institutions, including parliamentarians, also brought solidarity to the workers in front of the factory gates Frances Ghirra And Nicola Fratoianni (Italian left). There was no shortage of authority ecclesiasticalwith the cardinal at the head Arrigo Miglio (administrator of the Diocese of Iglesias) who among other things highlighted the importance of dignity of the Work.