Portovesme, protests mount: workers' strike and march on Cagliari

In Portovesme, workers' protests are mounting, following Glencore's decision to stop the zinc production line in the Sulcis plant. While waiting for the crisis meeting called for tomorrow in Rome by ministers Urso and Calderone, the Portovesme workers have joined the 24-hour strike called by the unions.

In front of the factory gates, workers are protesting for an assembly open to mayors and politicians, while a delegation of workers is in Cagliari to give voice to a sit-in in front of the Regional Council , where the extraordinary session was held this morning, extended to a union delegation and the mayors of Sulcis, waiting for the Roman table.

Present were about twenty mayors of Sulcis and about a hundred workers from the Glencore factories in Portovesme and San Gavino, to participate in the session of the Regional Council convened to address the Glencore dispute. A delegation of unions and employees took their seats in the galleries dedicated to the public in the Hall of the building in via Roma, following the interventions of the councilors on motion 15 on the "announced closure by Portovesme Srl - Glencore of the zinc line and the serious consequences for workers and the territory", first signed by the president of the Industry and Productive Activities commission Antonio Solinas .

Also present was Fdi MP Gianni Lampis , representing Medio Campidano, who will be taking part in the meeting in the capital tomorrow: «Glencore must take a step back, now it has taken off its mask after years of being made fun of, it has threatened to stop the zinc line and this means that everything that has been promised to us in recent years was just falsehood. No budget plan, the lack of will to submit the industrial project and the environmental impact assessment, the San Gavino plant has already been stopped for some time».

The main criticism raised against the multinational refers to the public subsidies obtained in the last 10 years, over 160 million. The hope at this point is that there are other subjects interested in Sardinian production that can take over from Glencore: «We expect it – underlines Emanuela Matta, a pentastellato councilor -. There needs to be a virtuous circle so that the industries or the so-called stakeholders can get closer and so that there is fertile ground to be able to give certainty to the territories and workers».

Glencore, Cgil: «Industrial decline unacceptable» – Video by Nicola Scano

The protest in Portovesme – Valentina Orgiu’s video

Mayors and representatives of trade unions in Cagliari – Video by Massimiliano Rais

(Online Union)