The 2023 for i metalworkers it opens with a drop of over 10 workers involved in various capacities in company crises, arising from financial, sectoral or related issues, raw materials and the war in Ukraine. According to the calculations of the Fim Cisl in a report on the state of crises in the engineering sector, at the end of the second half of 2022 there were in fact 60.727 blue overalls against 70.867 in June 2022.
According to the secretary general of the CISL, Robert Benaglia, these numbers tell us that the crisis in the engineering sector is not increasing, but we need to pay more attention to historical crises, the South, reindustrialisation and the automotive industry. “Having 60 jobs at risk in one of the most industrialized countries is an urgent social issue that we cannot afford to overlook and that must be addressed – says Benaglia -. In the past months, the metalworking industrial system has demonstrated a better production and employment stability than the fears and criticalities present above all determined by energy costs”.
However, there are some structural difficulties which for Benaglia must be addressed. “The increase in the number of now chronic corporate crises that cannot be resolved the increase in cases of crisis in the South of the country where there is a risk of industrial and employment desert, the too many cases of failed reindustrialization despite the commitments made to the MISE (MIMIT ) and the increase in difficulties in the automotive sector, given the effects of the ecological transition that the union of metalworkers has been denouncing for some time with concrete proposals”.
The difficulties of metalworking
If it is true that there is a decline in workers, observes Cisl, what can be seen in the second half of the year is the consolidation of non-performing loans in some sectors, in particular on cars and household appliances, to which must be added some particular supply chains such as those of contracts and installations that are suffering from a crisis, often linked to tenders at the lowest price even by public bodies that place them off the market. The major criticalities are due to the shortage of raw materials triggered by the pandemic (starting from semiconductors and automotive and household appliance components, and more) and to the high cost of energy, which especially puts the most energy-intensive sectors in difficulty, such as the steel and metallurgy. Added to this are the uncertainties and costs associated with the green and digital transitions that are being felt in the steel and automotive industries, while the repositioning of value chains at a global level is impacting above all on household appliances. All these factors together are jeopardizing the recovery and putting many small and medium-sized businesses linked to related industries in crisis.
Auto components and 50 workers at risk
The report surveyed 206 sector crises, most of which are linked to the components of the automotive sector where the stop to internal combustion engines by 2035 is creating many difficulties. If we add up the component crises to those arising from the shortage of raw materials, still largely related to cars and household appliances, the workers involved are 49.194.
Spotlight on Electrolux and Whirlpool
Market decline and shortage of semiconductors, electronic components and raw materials are having repercussions on the household appliance sector. In particular, Electrolux e Whirlpool have announced cuts and restructurings on all their sites in Italy. In particular, Whirlpool announced the "strategic review of the business portfolio" across the EMEA area. There is a lot of concern among the unions about the confirmation of the investments that had been planned for Italy.
The case of the Acciaierie d'Italia (ex-Ilva)
The ex-Ilva Group deserves a separate consideration today Steelworks of Italy. The historic dispute between the Acciaierie d'Italia (ex-Ilva) remains far from the objectives of a recovery in production and employment, observes the Fim Cisl. The majority entry of the State, through Invitalia, into the new corporate structure has been postponed and the target of 5.7 million tonnes at the end of the year for the Taranto site "remains only on paper, so much so that in December 2022 exceeded 3 million tons”. A situation that of the Acciaierie D'Italia Group which continues to worry and on which a table has been scheduled by the new Meloni government for 19 January.
Fim Cisl: "Indispensable government effort"
Now, for Cisl, a greater effort by the government is even more essential, which aims to avoid the industrial recession that we risk in 2023 by placing the growth of the real economy at the center of public policies. Also for this reason the next meeting is very important for the Fim Cisl 18st January with Minister Urso and the metalworkers' unions, in order to discuss the priorities and tools that must characterize an industrial policy that has been absent in our country for too long”.
