Sardinian miner in siege slashes wrist
A dispute over the closure of Italy’s only coal mine
escalated dramatically on Wednesday when a miner slashed his wrist at a press
conference held underground.
Colleagues said they were prepared to resort to “extreme measures” to
safeguard their jobs, as the occupation of the 1,230 feet, mine, entered a
fourth day.
More than 100 miners, including several women, are taking turns to occupy the
Carbosulcis coal mine in Sardinia and have seized nearly 700kg of explosives and
more than 1,200 detonators.
At a press conference in the area of the mine that is being occupied, union
spokesman Stefano Meletti, 48, suddenly slashed one of his wrists and yelled:
“Is this what we have to do?”
His act of self-harm took not only journalists by surprise but also his
colleagues.
The father-of-two was rushed to the mine’s infirmary and from there to a
hospital in the town of Carbonia. His colleagues said they were “desperate” to prevent the closure of the
facility and that they were willing to take “extreme measures” to keep it open.
“We’re ready for anything,” said Giancarlo Sau, a representative of Italy’s
largest trade union, CGIL, pointing at the storage area where the explosives and
detonators are being kept.
They want the government in Rome to give the mine a new lease of life by converting it into a carbon capture site in which carbon dioxide could be stored.
Among the protesters are six women who work in the mine, mostly as engineers and safety inspectors.
“If we don’t put up a fight, it will be the end of the mine,” Giuliana Porcu, 45, a health and safety official, told Corriere della Sera.
Valentina Zurru, 45, who has spent 20 years working at the facility in south-western Sardinia, said: “The mine is my life. If they close it, I’d have nothing to do but work on a little patch of land that my family owns.
“But I don’t want to think of it. I’m convinced that we will be able to save our jobs.”
The stand-off will come to a head at a meeting in Rome on Friday, when the government of Mario Monti, the prime minister, will hold talks with union leaders and Sardinian officials over the carbon capture project.
The confrontation at the mine is just one of several industrial disputes that the Monti administration is having to deal with, as austerity-hit Italians fight to keep their jobs.
Threats to close a huge aluminium plant run by mining giant Alcoa in Sardinia have prompted protests.
In Taranto, in the southern region of Puglia, Europe’s biggest steelworks is threatened with closure after years of controversy over its pollution of the local area.
The Ilva plant employs, directly and indirectly, around 20,000 people in an area already struggling with high unemployment.
They want the government in Rome to give the mine a new lease of life by converting it into a carbon capture site in which carbon dioxide could be stored.
Among the protesters are six women who work in the mine, mostly as engineers and safety inspectors.
“If we don’t put up a fight, it will be the end of the mine,” Giuliana Porcu, 45, a health and safety official, told Corriere della Sera.
Valentina Zurru, 45, who has spent 20 years working at the facility in south-western Sardinia, said: “The mine is my life. If they close it, I’d have nothing to do but work on a little patch of land that my family owns.
“But I don’t want to think of it. I’m convinced that we will be able to save our jobs.”
The stand-off will come to a head at a meeting in Rome on Friday, when the government of Mario Monti, the prime minister, will hold talks with union leaders and Sardinian officials over the carbon capture project.
The confrontation at the mine is just one of several industrial disputes that the Monti administration is having to deal with, as austerity-hit Italians fight to keep their jobs.
Threats to close a huge aluminium plant run by mining giant Alcoa in Sardinia have prompted protests.
In Taranto, in the southern region of Puglia, Europe’s biggest steelworks is threatened with closure after years of controversy over its pollution of the local area.
The Ilva plant employs, directly and indirectly, around 20,000 people in an area already struggling with high unemployment.
Source Telegraph UK (Nick Squires)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9506382/Sardinian-miner-in-siege-slashes-wrist.html
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