Algeria's Cevital intends to not
only maintain all staff at the Lucchini steelmaker but to also
"increase employment over the next four years", company chairman
Isaad Rebrab said Tuesday.
Rebrab was in Rome for the signing of a purchase agreement
with Italy's second-largest steelmaker, which employs 2,000
people at its plant in the Tuscan port city of Piombino.
Previously owned by Russia's Severstal, Lucchini has been
under special administration since 2012 after going bankrupt.
Premier Matteo Renzi described the Lucchini-Cevital deal as
"strategic" for Italy.
The deal "sends a big message to foreign investors and for
the future of a sector that is absolutely decisive for
tomorrow", the premier said.
"Piombino is a piece of Italy's future: the traditional
steelmaking, manufacturing industry is a piece of the future and
not just of the past," Renzi added.
He also thanked the Tuscan regional and local
administrations and the labour unions for their part in the
deal.
"It may seem odd that I should express my gratitude to the
unions, but I do so willingly," said Renzi who has been on
collision course with the country's labour representatives in
recent months particularly over his controversial Jobs Act.
"In an industrial dispute, it is right and important that
the unions sit at the negotiating table," Renzi said, adding
however that the budget and other laws were the prerogative of
government and parliament.
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