Tuesday March 25, when will the next and final meeting take place between Beko Europe, the trade union representatives and the top management of the Mimit, the tormented dispute destined to prevent the dismantling of a large part of the ex Whirlpool Italian factories. The last roundtable discussion, on Friday 14 March, the eighth since Beko Europe management announced a drastic cut in investment and relaunch programmes on 20 November, confirmed these 7 key points.
Many uncertainties, but Beko is delocalising
With a necessary premise: the Italian R&D centers will disappear, with heavy redundancies and vague promises by Beko to transfer the high-end to the Italian hubs. “Transferring” in fact means designing elsewhere, perhaps using Italian patents and know-how, impoverishing the national value chain. First point: the plant in Siena freezers will unfortunately close within the year (the lines will be relocated to Türkiye), without any news about the destination of the site. That of the washing machines di commonality it will not close, but will continue to be significantly downsized with very few lines (the rest is being relocated to Turkey), without any security, as the European car wash market is in heavy and constant contraction, with saturation close to 100%.
Read EVEN Beko, backtracks on Comunanza: it will not close. And Siena?
Beko, too many redundancies
Third key point: the historical data is also significantly reduced Cassinetta plant, European headquarters, where refrigeration appliances, microwaves and, perhaps, cooking appliances are produced. Melano is confirmed as the group's built-in cooking centre. The central role for the pieces replacement , components in the hub of Carinaro. Redundancies: from the 295 threatened for clerical functions (the most affected category), we go to 275. Much uncertainty for the other redundancies that will drop, but just below the 2.000 that Beko had initially threatened. Last key point: the 300 million investments. The unions' comments are marked by poorly concealed dissatisfaction; indeed, there is a fear that the uncertainty hides future downsizing due to the economic unsustainability of some solutions. The official comment of the company, expressed by Maurizio David Sberna, external relations director of Beko Europe, is almost optimistic: "We are convinced that there are all the necessary elements to continue a constructive discussion, with the aim of reaching an agreement that, in our opinion, is both desired and desirable. We trust that the next meeting on March 25 will allow us to close the circle". The outlook for employees, for next Tuesday 25, can be summed up as follows: take it or leave it? And the Golden Power?
Whirlpool-Beko: What Happened and What to Expect
In the space of just over three years, the most rapid decline is taking place in what had been, for decades, a manufacturing industry of global dimensions, which from tens and tens of millions of household appliances has fallen to modest numbers, with serious social hardship for entire regions. The decline began exactly in January 2017.
At CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, rumors are circulating about the aggressive acquisition strategy of the Chinese giants. Haier he had bought it less than a year earlier General Electric, an iconic brand of the typical American lifestyle, beating Electrolux e Midea. Midea, with 8 billion dollars in cash to spend, is on the hunt for “bites” and is letting everyone know, also because from Beijing President Xi Jinping has ordered Chinese multinationals to come out and invest in brands, factories and markets. Several months later, journalists who ask Paul Fang, president and CEO of Midea, if it is true that he made a very rich offer to buy the Whirlpool, he replies that yes, of course, he would buy it. All of it? Yes, all of it. “And, alternatively, not even Electrolux we would be sorry."
Whirlpool for sale?
A real earthquake is unleashed when the prestigious agency Bloomberg and the very popular portal Twice they publish the news: Whirlpool is for sale. Also FIRST online, on November 15, 2017, immediately reports it, since the most important European factories of the multinational are Italian. Whirlpool had acquired Ignis-Philips (IRE) in 1988 and, subsequently, Indesit Company in 2014.
After years of growth, however, Whirlpool EMEA begins to lose market share, suffers a decline in industrial investments and registers a growing disaffection on the part of the Corporation's board. The choice to favor the interests of shareholders, drastically reducing the financing destined for the branches, weighs most heavily.
Despite denials, Whirlpool negotiates
The company is struggling more and more to cope competition of appliances Asian, which offer much lower prices. After the revelations of FIRST online, tensions are growing between the European management and that of the Corporation. In March 2018, Esther Berrozpe Galindo, president Emea and executive vice president of Whirlpool Co., is seriously ill and will be replaced by Marc Bitzer, CEO of the Corporation, with a series of changes at the top in Europe never seen before. “Whirlpool is also negotiating with Arçelik, Hisense and, perhaps, even Galanz,” reveals FIRSTonline.
April 2022, the decision: out of Europe
And in fact, on April 25, 2022, the official statement arrives that the company has decided on a "strategic review" of its presence abroad. On June 28, it sells to ARÇELİK its activities in Russia and Russian-speaking countries, after having already sold the former Indesit plant in Turkey to the Turks. On 21 October, Marc Bitzer officially announced that two of the ten probable buyers remained. It is known that these are Midea and of Arçelik.
January 2023: Beko Europe is born
The increasingly serious crisis in sales on the European markets accelerates all negotiations and, in January 2023, the board announces that a new company has been created, Beko Europe, 75% of Turkish society and 25% of American society. It was the opposition of the US government that excluded Midea, a giant that was too strong, and moreover Chinese. government Italian, in May 2023, in granting authorization to Whirlpool for the new corporate structure, exercises the Golden Power to protect the national interests of a strategic sector.
But the blow is coming: 2.000 redundancies
After the green light from European and English antitrust authorities, Beko Europe is finally operational from September 2024. But for Italian employees comes a cold shower: the new business plan provides for the Closure of three Italian hubs and dismissal di 2.000 workers. Then, Beko closes two factories in Poland, one in Romania and one in England. The unions, long in turmoil, are asking the government Meloni to intervene on Beko Europe and, from December 2024, begins the difficult path to obtain a complete overhaul from the Turkish multinational.
