Italian factory modernization threatens 4,000 jobs

The blast furnace at the Italian ironworks Lucchini was shut down this week, threatening to cut 4,000 jobs, despite Pope Francis calling on officials to do whatever it takes "to rekindle hope."

The authorities are "determined to rebuild the furnace, which will use advanced technology, and to ensure the resumption of steel production in Piombino within two to three years," he said.
The plant employs 4,000 people who can now go to the labor exchange , including contractors, and has been in trouble for years. The workers gathered to oversee the shutdown of the system. In the words of one of the workers, Lorenzo Fusco, "the stove is on its way, like in a surrealist movie."

The government said the deal would save the plant, but it was too late to prevent a furnace shutdown at the Lucchini plant in Piombino on the Tuscan coast, where production began in the early 20th century.

Governor of the Tuscany region, Enrico Rossi, described the closure as "a dramatic moment." Meanwhile, the government has pledged € 250 million ($ 345 million) to modernize the plant into an environmentally friendly facility.

The plant, which produces steel and railroad tracks, will also be equipped for new areas in the future, explains the Italian Ministry of Defense. “Today is the end of a long and glorious industrial history, but we want to start another,” Rossi told reporters after a government meeting.


The Ministry of the Environment previously pledged € 50 million for the development of the plant, and the region has already allocated € 60 million to finance the transformation of the plant and the port of Piombino.