Global steel giant ArcelorMittal has announced that it has reached a provisional labor agreement with Italian steelmaker Ilva’s trade unions, which is an important milestone in its proposed acquisition of Ilva.
According to the company’s statement, under the agreement, it has committed to initially hire 10,700 workers of Ilva based on their existing contractual terms of employment. In addition, between 2023 and 2025 it has committed to hire any workers who remain under Ilva’s extraordinary administration. The agreement will now be voted on by Ilva’s employees before being formally ratified.
Aditya Mittal, ArcelorMittal Group president and CFO, and CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe, stated that ArcelorMittal is keen to get started as soon as possible as Ilva requires urgent investment to address its environmental and operational challenges and added that, once they formally take ownership of Ilva, their priority will be to ensure operational stability, while also starting to implement their significant €2.4 billion investment program.
Legal completion of the transaction and formal commencement of AM Investco’s lease and purchase agreement for Ilva is now expected on November 1, 2018.