They are 56 thousand jobs at risk in the engineering sector, involved in the 47 national crisis tables currently open to the Mise, to which are added the 52 regional crisis tables. This is the balance communicated by the Fim Cisl in a report on the sector's disputes. The companies that went bankrupt in 2020 under the ax of the crisis and those that are not unionized escape the analysis.
The study underlines how, despite the crisis, the engineering sector has withstood the blows of the pandemic, highlighting the progress made over time which culminated on 5 February with the renewal of the contract of the metalworkers which revised the criteria for framing professionalism, bringing important innovations in terms of welfare, health and safety.
Despite that "Many crisis situations remain in the sector, historic disputes (ex-Ilva, Blutec, Piombino JSW (ex-Lucchini), Whirlpool, Bekaert, IIA, etc.) which have been dragging on for years and which absolutely must be resolved”, reads the analysis. Added to these are the disputes related to technological changes and transitions, which in some sectors such as the automotive and aeronautics are becoming increasingly concerned. Lastly, there is also a widespread crisis situation of the metalworking companies linked to the oil industry, in particular in Sicily as regards the Priolo/Augusta chemical pole and in Sardinia in the Saras refinery in Sarlux (Cagliari).
"The greatest concentration of crisis situations is in the South of the country and in the main islands, the area of the country that most needs industrial policies that aim at the modernization of infrastructures and investments that help companies make the technological leap”, explains Roberto Benaglia, general secretary of Fim Cisl. “In any case, there is a need for all urgent liquidity interventions that allow to preserve employment and hook up the recovery, continues the trade unionist.
ALUMINUM AND STEEL
Of the 47 crisis tables open to the Ministry of Economic Development, most concern historical crises "for which either there is no continuity of commitments to the change of government or the investor proves to be unreliable", highlights the Fim Cisl. The most affected sectors are steel and aluminum, with disputes open for over 5 years. Impossible not to mention the situation of the'Ex-Ilva which the union defines as "the mother of all crises". After the agreement signed in 2018 with Arcelor Mittal and the subsequent agreement signed in March 2020 which established the state's entry into the corporate structure, everything is still very bad.
“Then there is the ex-steelworks pole of Piombino today JSW, the former Alcoa of Portovesme today owned by Sider Alloys and, finally, theSpecial steels of Terni, put up for sale by ThyssenKrupp. Added to these are a whole series of small foundries and rolling and processing plants scattered throughout Italy that are in composition or in crisis”, reads the report.
OTHER SECTORS
In the sector of appliances attention remains high on the Naples Whirlpool crisis, while in theautomotive, in addition to the historic disputes of Blutec of Termini Imerese (ex-Fiat) and ex-Iribus (Industria Italiana Autobus IIA), today the worries of the collapse of the automotive market in 2020 are added in perspective to those related to the ecological transition of the sector . Among the open disputes, the Fim Cisl reports “the layoffs in February of the Melfi site of the Stellantis Group due to the lack of supply of chips. From this point of view, a supply chain reasoning with the only two semiconductor manufacturers present in Italy would be useful: STM of Catania and Lfoundry of Avezzano".
As for the industry aeronautics, the situation of serious crisis that companies linked to the maintenance of air transport are experiencing is worrying. These are highly specialized companies, mostly concentrated between Campania and Puglia. A similar situation is recorded with regard to the related industries of the large national petrochemicals, where there are many companies in the engineering sector that deal with plant maintenance.
Then there are some historical crisis situations in the sector railway revamping (ex-Firema, Ferrosud, keller) and the aerospace and ITC sector.
"After the annus horribilis of the pandemic that unfortunately we are still experiencing, in the engineering sector alone, we register in our Crisis Report 56 thousand male and female workers who risk losing their jobs and are those linked to the 52 national crisis tables open to Ministry of Economic Development and to the 47 regional tables”, says Benaglia. “We certainly don't expect things to be resolved with the magic wand, dialogue and collaboration are needed. This is why we ask the Minister to take charge of these crises re-equipping the Ministry with a 'crisis unit'. We need to concentrate our efforts more, resolve the historical disputes in terms of industrial and supply chain policies, reliefs, liquidity and investments, to give these companies the possibility of overcoming this year and hooking up to the recovery and maintaining employment levels", concludes the general secretary of the Fim Cisl.
Today, Friday 26 March the metalworkers' unions, Fim, Fiom and Uilm, are in garrison in Rome, in front of the Mise, with the delegations of workers from the major engineering companies in crisis from all over Italy.
