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Alcoa's Sardinian aluminium plant workers occupy fireworks factory to draw attention to their situation
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
Workers at US giant Alcoa's loss-making aluminum smelter in the Sardinian town of Portovesme on Tuesday occupied a nearby explosives factory to draw attention to 1,500 jobs at risk.
"We went into the factory and asked its workers for solidarity, which we got amply from them and from the management," said a local representative from the Fiom-Cgil trade union, Franco Bardi.
The Alcoa workers occupied the 'Sardinian Explosives' factory in Domusnovas for two hours before returning to work, Bardi said.
Earlier on Tuesday some 200 workers from the Alcoa plant held a protest outside the smelter gates.
Alcoa began on 1 September the gradual closure of the plant, which will be shuttered next year unless a buyer is found. Alcoa workers have held a series of protests to highlight their plight include a Rome march amid last-ditch negotiations between government officials, labour unions and Alcoa executives.
The Italian government is under intense pressure from labour unions to save the smelter, which employs 500 people directly with a further 1,000 directly depending on the plant.
Its closure would be a heavy blow for the island where joblessness is already 15 percent.
High energy costs is one of the reasons Alcoa's Sardinian plant has found it difficult to compete and greener technology is key to its future, according to analysts.
A Turin-based renewable energy group is interested in buying the smelter, Italian daily Il Sole-24 Ore reported last week.
The Turin company, called KiteGen Research, makes wind power which it says can fuel the aluminium smelter for a fraction of the current cost.
Swiss industrial group Klesh and Glencore have also expressed interest.
"We went into the factory and asked its workers for solidarity, which we got amply from them and from the management," said a local representative from the Fiom-Cgil trade union, Franco Bardi.
The Alcoa workers occupied the 'Sardinian Explosives' factory in Domusnovas for two hours before returning to work, Bardi said.
Earlier on Tuesday some 200 workers from the Alcoa plant held a protest outside the smelter gates.
Alcoa began on 1 September the gradual closure of the plant, which will be shuttered next year unless a buyer is found. Alcoa workers have held a series of protests to highlight their plight include a Rome march amid last-ditch negotiations between government officials, labour unions and Alcoa executives.
The Italian government is under intense pressure from labour unions to save the smelter, which employs 500 people directly with a further 1,000 directly depending on the plant.
Its closure would be a heavy blow for the island where joblessness is already 15 percent.
High energy costs is one of the reasons Alcoa's Sardinian plant has found it difficult to compete and greener technology is key to its future, according to analysts.
A Turin-based renewable energy group is interested in buying the smelter, Italian daily Il Sole-24 Ore reported last week.
The Turin company, called KiteGen Research, makes wind power which it says can fuel the aluminium smelter for a fraction of the current cost.
Swiss industrial group Klesh and Glencore have also expressed interest.
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