On the chimney of the power plant to ask for certainties about the future
Two of the 15 Serravalle Energy workers who climbed up yesterday afternoon to claim their right to a salary, but above all to the future, spent the night at a height of 52 meters on the chimney of the Cutro biomass power plant (Crotone).
The others set up camp, spreading themselves over several levels of the smoke stack.
“It was – says Aldo D’Auria, one of the two remaining on the summit – a difficult night.
We put up tents and sleeping bags. But we did it because we fear for our future. Of course we are demanding our salaries, we ask that if the situation continues, the INPS will grant us the redundancy fund but we are worried about what could happen now that the plant has been released from seizure. We have no certainties. And what will happen if the GSE suspends the incentives again as happened after the seizure?”.
“This – the worker continues – is an absurd story where there have been mistakes on everyone’s part: from the DDA to the judicial administrators, to the company. However, the only ones who paid were us who had nothing to do with what happened, but we have been working for twenty years, with our heads down.”
The workers’ concern derives from the intricate legal matter in which Serravalle Energy, involved in the Black Wood operation, ended up with which, on 4 October 2022, the Catanzaro DDA carried out a series of precautionary measures as part of an investigation to environmental crimes. Following the seizure, although the company was guaranteed by a judicial administration, there was the suspension of the incentives provided by law by the National Energy Services Manager (GSE): almost 20 million euros. A significant loss which caused a lack of liquidity for the company and the shutdown of the plant from November 2023.
The ones who paid the consequences were above all the 37 workers for whom the collective dismissal procedure had been initiated, which was also averted following the unblocking of GSE incentives. The plant, however, never came back into operation and the workers had requested redundancy payments which, however, the INPS rejected, claiming that there were no conditions to declare a state of crisis.
So yesterday the protest broke out and continued despite Judge Mario Santoemma, who coordinates the judicial administration, having authorized the payment of February and March salaries for 45 thousand euros.
“Now that the handover will take place after the release from seizure – states D’Auria – things must be done regularly to avoid us still paying. The past few months have been very difficult and have been spent in constant uncertainty. We didn’t go down yesterday after the news that our salaries would be paid because we want certainties for the future. A request we make to the company, but also to the authorities.”
