While the problem relating to the fate of the 45 workers appears to be being resolved Basell cut off from the factory after the closure of the P9T plantthe company confirms its intention to give way also with the second plant, the so-called PP2. Which, however, would not simply be turned off as happened with the P9T. Basell, in fact, intends to sell it.
The meeting in Bari
The secretary of Filctem CGIL explains what is happening Antonio Frattini who, just yesterday, participated in a summit on the Basell crisis in Bari with the regional employment task force chaired by Leo Caroli. “President Gabriele Mei – he reports – he illustrated the company’s new plan, which he is rethinking all activities related to polypropylene plants. PP2 also falls within this scope Toasts, as well as plants in various European countries, including France and Germany. They have ruled out the possibility of closing these plants and they would like to sell insteadverifying the possibility that other industrial entities can purchase them in bulk or, alternatively, different entities in individual countries”.
Petrochemical at risk
A situation which, especially in Brindisi, puts the entire basic chemical sector at risk. «PP2 – recalls Frattini – works because is fed with the raw material produced by the cracking of Versalis. This means that if Basell’s production ceases, there will immediately be negative repercussions on Versalis. President Mei told us that the new supply agreement has not yet been defined, which naturally concerns not only Brindisi, because the current one expires in December. As mentioned, the Brindisi PP2 is supplied by the Versalis cracker in Brindisi while that of Ferrara by the Priolo cracker, in Sicily. It is clear that any action against PP2 could have a domino effect on Versalis. And that’s why we asked for the Puglia Region to immediately summon an Eni delegate to understand how they are imagining this story.”
A new summit, this time with Eni
In this sense, the president of the Regional Task Force Caroli has committed to bringing forward the meeting scheduled for September at the beginning of Julyconvening on behalf of the Region Eni and Basel at the same table, to understand what are the strategies compared to the Italian situation of basic chemistry. «The heart of the Brindisi petrochemical industry – recalls Frattini – is the Versalis cracking but around the Eni group company there are many companies, many people, many workers, direct and indirect. This is why we reiterated that the government must be involved, calling all the companies present to the table, to arrive at a national table on chemistryto a special law for Brindisi or to an ad hoc development contract, putting in all the pieces of the Brindisi industrial apparatus».
Goodbye to green chemistry
Among other things, the secretary of Filctem Cgil points out, the so-called “green chemistry” project in Brindisi would also be at risk. «In the two old previous industrial plans – he underlines – Eni’s strategy towards green chemistry was hypothesized, with the creation on an industrial scale of an mechanical recycling plant for contaminated plastic, which therefore cannot be recovered in other ways. From this plastic we obtain a pyrolysis oil capable of fueling cracking instead of virgin naphtha, so much so that Brindisi had equipped itself by replacing two of the twelve ovens with new generation systems capable of burning this pyrolysis oil. But clearly if you question cracking, you also question this further development, unfortunately. Here because Eni needs to explain where are we going”.
The P9T dispute
As regards, however, the redundancies of the P9T, the company has communicated, reports the secretary, «that it has started the procedure for consulting workers with respect to the three strands of the agreement: early retirement, incentivized redundancy and transfer to the Ferrara plant. And he confirmed that they are very close to 45 units. There were only a few second thoughts during the work but in general the identified surpluses were recovered.” Some glimmers of hope have also opened up for the temporary workerscompared to which i labor unions they have always asked for treatment on par with their direct managers. «The company – concludes Frattini – has confirmed that, having exhausted all the other needs of direct workers, they are examining the possibility of allowing the transfer also for temporary workers. In that case, however, without financial help. We, however, we asked Basell to make this effort».
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