Italy's three main labour unions
CGIL, CISL and UIL on Wednesday proclaimed a four hour strike in
Florence to protest against a deadly incident at an Eni fuel
depot at nearby Calenzano Monday that killed five workers and
injured nine others.
The UGL union has also adhered.
Workers at an Eni oil refinery in Livorno staged a strike on
Tuesday and will be walking off the job again for two hours on
Wednesday as part of the protest.
"It is the umpteenth massacre", said Maurizio Landini, the
leader of the largest and most left-leaning union CGIL.
The deadly incident, he said, shows that "this business system
is based on insecurity, on the effective lack of procedures that
are able to guarantee the health and security of workers".
Another protest has been organized on Wednesday by the USB,
Cobas and CUB Firenze unions in front of the offices in Florence
of workplace accident insurance agency INAIL.
"It is not possible to say that it was a fatality, the risks of
an explosion at the depot were well known", they said.
The Eni depot at Calenzano was listed among plants at risk by
the Territorial coordination plan of the metropolitan city of
Florence, they said, based on the quantity of dangerous
substances present.
The security report was last updated in 2021.
"When it was built at the end of the 1950s, a highway exit had
been planned there" and the area "was all countryside", said
Tuscany Governor Eugenio Giani, noting that "it was appropriate
then, but not today".
Petrol, diesel and kerosene was received and stored at the
170,300- square-metre Calenzano facility and then distributed
from it.
The plant is connected to Eni's Livorno refinery via two
pipelines. Eni said the facility had been operating since 1956
and had 24 tanks and 10 loading platforms.
The municipality of Calenzano has organized a commemoration
ceremony for the victims on Wednesday and has declared it a day
of mourning.
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