The Political Bureau of the Communist Front of Italy and the National Secretariat of the Communist Youth Front (FGC) express their full solidarity with the workers of the former Ilva steelworks, who are on strike to defend their jobs. The ruling of the Milan Court of Appeal, ordering the shutdown of the steelworks’ hot area within 90 days, is the latest step in a disastrous process that has taken a heavy toll on the health of thousands of workers and residents of Taranto, while guaranteeing billions in profits to the plant’s former owners. Today, as this process reaches its final stage, its entire burden is once again being placed on the shoulders of the workers.
We denounce the actions of the Meloni government which, in line with all previous governments, continues to protect the profits generated by the former Ilva without taking any concrete or definitive measures to address the environmental disaster. Although the environmental catastrophe and its consequences for the health of workers and the people of Taranto have been undeniable for decades, successive governments have acted in a wholly inadequate manner to confront it. The former Ilva represents an obsolete model of industrial production. For years it released enormous quantities of pollutants into the environment, exposed workers to extremely serious risks, and at the same time enabled its owners and the companies in its supply chain to reap enormous profits. Workers and the people of Taranto have paid, and continue to pay, the price through workplace deaths, industrial accidents and the growing incidence of chronic diseases.
The solution to the environmental crisis cannot simply be the closure of the steelworks and the sacrifice of thousands of jobs. This simplistic course pursued by the Meloni government, which continues to refuse decisive action to decontaminate the site and modernise the facilities, forces workers to pay twice over: first with their health and the risks they have endured in the workplace, then with the loss of their jobs. Modern steel production standards are fully compatible with safe industrial production that respects the environment, drastically reduces pollutant emissions and keeps them within levels compatible with the protection of public health and the environment. Instead, the Meloni government has chosen the path of complete irresponsibility, risking the loss of 20,000 jobs across the former Ilva and its supply chain, shutting down the largest steelworks in Europe, further weakening Italy’s productive capacity and bringing the country’s entire steel industry to the brink.
This would be a tragic outcome after years of disastrous policies. It began with the privatisation of the 1990s, when the Riva family took ownership of the steelworks and pocketed billions in profits over the years, despite the well-documented damage inflicted on public health, without ever paying the price, whether through criminal convictions or in any other meaningful way. It continued with the sell-off to ArcelorMittal, which once again placed the plant under private ownership. Its management failed to take action commensurate with the gravity of the environmental crisis. Finally came the so-called “nationalisation”, which in reality amounted to the state taking over years of accumulated losses and debt, socialising the costs of a disastrous situation in preparation for yet another round of private ownership. The proposed sale to the Indian multinational Jindal follows exactly the same failed approach: applying a temporary patch to a structural problem while guaranteeing new profits to another private company, after the state has already assumed the burden of debts and restructuring, without providing any guarantee of continued employment.
All these failed policies have one common thread: the protection of the interests of the bosses, whether Italian or foreign. Industrial production is fully compatible with the protection of the environment, workers’ health and the health of those living near industrial sites. The profits of a handful of parasites cannot.
For this reason, the Communist Youth Front and the Communist Front of Italy demand an extraordinary plan to safeguard every job: the immediate nationalisation of the steelworks under workers’ control and the conversion of the production site in order to drastically reduce pollutant emissions, increase productivity and guarantee the highest safety standards for workers. Without any further delay, comprehensive decontamination works and compensatory measures for the people of Taranto and the surrounding area must be carried out. We also demand the expropriation, without compensation, of all the assets of the former owners of the steelworks, particularly those of the Riva family, as partial compensation for the damage inflicted on the workers and the people of Taranto.
We stand alongside the steelworkers and the people of Taranto in their struggle to defend their jobs, the environment and their health. We will stand with the workers on strike in these hours and in every trade union action, giving our fullest support to their struggle.
Let’s break the false choice between health and employment. Their profits or our lives!
