Electrolux, agreement with the government at Mimit to stop layoffs and new investments

An agreement has been reached on Electrolux's new industrial plan which envisages over 100 million euros of investments and a production of approximately 3.2 million pieces per year at the end of the plan, confirming the strategic role of the Italian factories.

Compared to the 1,719 redundancies initially announced by the company, the new plan provides for a maximum of 902 redundancies to be managed exclusively on a voluntary and incentivized basis, with the support of social safety nets. A note from Mimit announces this.

"We have achieved the objective: an agreement that protects workers and safeguards all Electrolux plants in Italy, with over 100 million euros of investments to guarantee long-term production prospects", commented the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso.

Planned investments confirmed

The agreement on the new industrial plan arrived at the end of 30 hours of intense discussion at Mimit with the company and the trade unions, which began yesterday and continued unabated even during the night.

On a production level, the product portfolio is expanding in Porcia, consolidating the production of washing machines and washer-dryers on both platforms.

The investments and production prospects of the Susegana, Solaro and Forlì plants were also confirmed.

For Cerreto d'Esi, production is expected to be maintained, with volumes in line with the current ones and with the average of recent years, until a reindustrialization solution is identified to protect the 149 workers.

Satisfaction from the government

The Ministry of Labor will be involved to identify the most appropriate social safety nets, supported by professional training and retraining courses.

The agreement, we read in the note, "is also the result of the battle conducted by the Government in Europe to defend the household appliance sector. With the non-paper supported by France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Slovakia, Italy asked for a European plan for the sector, to protect production from unfair competition and to support investments".

The Commission's willingness to act on these proposals has contributed to reopening the discussion with Electrolux on new bases and creating the conditions for the revision of the industrial plan.

"Defending jobs means creating the conditions for companies to continue producing and investing in Italy. This is what our Government did with Electrolux and this is what we ask of Europe for the entire sector: now the Commission's commitments must be followed by concrete measures", underlined Urso.

"I am satisfied that the agreement has finally been concluded with. The mediation found after months of negotiations is very good because the transition from the expected redundancies to a significantly lower number of voluntary and incentivized exits has made it possible to avoid what would have been a real social disaster", declared the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Luca Ciriani.