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By Francesca Piscioneri
ROME (Reuters) - At least three people were injured in clashes with police in Rome on Wednesday, police said, as union officials and workers from a ThyssenKrupp AG (DE:TKAG) steel plant in central Italy marched to protest against planned job cuts.
The German industrial group said earlier this month it would cut 550 jobs at the factory, but Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government is seeking to mediate a last-ditch compromise.
Police in riot gear confronted protesters near the German embassy, where a delegation of workers had earlier met with an embassy official.
Marco Bentivogli, secretary of the Cisl union whose members include some of those at the steel plant, said four workers and an unspecified number of union officials were injured in what he called an unjustified charge by police against a peaceful march.
Lawmaker Giorgio Airaudo, a former union official, said in a Tweet a total of five had been injured by "police clubs".
Police said they had been forced to stop an attempt by protesters to break through a cordon and occupy the central train station, according to a statement. While three protesters were taken to hospital for treatment, some officers had been hit by bottles and rocks, the statement said.
The government, focus of a union rally against proposed labour market reforms at the weekend, said it remained committed to dealing with the crisis at ThyssenKrupp's Acciai Speciali Terni (AST) plant, according to a statement.
JOB LOSSES
Industry Minister Federica Guidi met earlier with AST Chief Executive Lucia Morselli and also talked to Maurizio Landini, leader of the Cgil union, who led the march to the ministry.
Guidi is taking an active role in the talks in an attempt to stem job losses as Italian unemployment soars above 12 percent, a level last seen in the 1970s.
With the ThyssenKrupp unit seeking to lower costs by 100 million euros per year, Guidi said in testimony to parliament after the street clash that she is working on a deal that would limit job cuts to a maximum of 290 over the next two years.
The company can benefit from energy subsidies to help reduce costs, she said, and expenses could be further lowered if the factory shuts one of its two kilns, shifting some workers into "cold" finishing processes, an option that unions have opposed.
"I have not given up on the possibility of a compromise," Guidi told lawmakers.
With relations between Renzi's government and labour unions already strained by his proposed relaxation of labour rules, the government pledged to look into the police actions earlier in the day, a statement said.
The global stainless steel market has been squeezed by overcapacity and the Italian steel industry - the second-biggest in Europe after Germany's - is struggling to cope with falling demand in the midst of a three-year slump.
ThyssenKrupp took over AST earlier this year as part of a deal in which it sold its main stainless steel business Inoxum to Finland's Outokumpu (HE:OUT1V).
(Writing by Steve Scherer)