Eight-hour strike proclaimed by Fim, Fiom and Uilm against Electrolux's plan

ROME – Eight hours of strike. This is the response of Fim, Fiom and Uilm at the end of the two days of negotiations with Electrolux at the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy. In fact, there has been no progress and the distance between the Swedish multinational and the workers' representatives seems unbridgeable. According to the unions, the company's openings regarding the reduction of redundancies are insufficient, while the closure of the Cerreto d'Esi plant in the Marche region remains confirmed.

The date and methods of the strike will be decided in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the metalworkers' organizations are asking for the "urgent reconvening of the table in the presence of the minister and the Regions involved, considering that the technical discussion phase is now over".

Still 1,450 redundancies on the table

During the meetings Electrolux once again illustrated the plan relating to the Italian factories, introducing some changes. The number of declared redundancies, the unions report, would drop from 1,719 to 1,450. However, a reduction judged too limited by Fim, Fiom and Uilm. The unions underline that 135 fixed-term workers whose expiring contracts would not be renewed would be added to the surplus positions. The permanent workforce would have already gone from 4,279 employees in April to 4,200 in August, while another 91 fixed-term contracts would have expired without renewal. «Electrolux's industrial plan has not only not been withdrawn, but has mostly been confirmed», say Fim, Fiom and Uilm.

The closure of Cerreto d'Esi has been confirmed

The main breaking point remains the future of the Cerreto d'Esi site. Despite the changes presented during the discussion with the ministry, the company confirmed the decision to close the factory. For the unions, this is an "unacceptable choice", also because it is accompanied by requests that would significantly affect the organization of work in other Italian factories.

Electrolux has in fact expressed its intention to overcome the union agreements which today establish, factory by factory, limits on the speed of the assembly lines and the maximum number of pieces to be produced per hour.

The node of the lines up to 140 pieces per hour

The company aims to increase the speed of the lines, reaching up to 140 pieces per hour. The plan would also provide for the stabilization of production activity on a single daily shift. Conditions that the unions define as "very heavy", above all because they would not be compensated by a substantial rethink on redundancies and closures. “The company demands great sacrifices from its workers and enormous efforts from the government, but in exchange it continues to offer redundancies and closures,” denounce the three federations.

The request for interventions from the Government and on Cbam

During the negotiations Electrolux also reiterated the need for public intervention on the factors that affect the group's competitiveness. Among the issues raised is the request to the Italian government to act at European level for a reform of the Cbam, the European carbon border adjustment mechanism. The company considers the issue relevant to contain competitive imbalances and the higher costs incurred by European production. For the unions, however, any institutional interventions cannot be accompanied by a plan that continues to provide for hundreds of redundancies and the closure of a plant.

Fim, Fiom and Uilm: "Now a political table"

Fim, Fiom and Uilm therefore consider the technical discussion to be "exhausted" and ask that the dispute move to a political level. The objective is to directly involve Minister Urso and the regional administrations involved to use "every possible lever" and convince the multinational to review the plan.