Salary cuts from 1.400 to 7-800 euros and one plant out of four, that of Porcia, is at risk of closure. These are the fundamental points of the plan proposed yesterday in Mestre by Elecrolux to the trade unions and the Rsu to maintain production in Italy. Today the assemblies will be held in the factory, which will most likely lead to an immediate strike, while the unions are preparing to request a meeting with Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
In detail, the Swedish ownership plan provides for an 80% cut of the 2.700 euro company bonus, the reduction of hours worked to six, the blocking of holiday payments, the reduction of breaks, the halving of union permits and the stop to seniority shots. The group aims to reduce average hourly costs (now 24 euros) by 3-5 euros, so as to partially fill the gap with labor costs in Poland, where Electrolux workers receive 7 euros an hour.
"Now we're going to talk about our story which is paradigmatic for the whole country with Prime Minister Enrico Letta - said the delegates of the RSU and trade unionists of CGIL, CISL and UIL - We waited in vain for a confrontation with Minister Zanonato who was not there has never been – they added – now we go directly to Letta because Electrolux used Italian money to land in Italy. Now to look to the East it uses EU funds which are still partly ours".
For the Porcia (Pordenone) plant, in addition to the heavier cut on wages, no industrial plan is envisaged, because the washing machines produced in the Friuli factory cost, per piece, 30 euros too much, and are the victim of competition from Far East brands , Samsung and LG. According to the manager of Electrolux Italia Marco Mondini, the decision on the future of Porcia will arrive "no later than the end of April".
As for the other three Italian factories, as a counterpart to the linear cuts, investments of 40 million euros would arrive for Solaro, 28 million for Forlì and 22 million for Susegana.
“The problem is that Italian products in the entire field of household appliances are of remarkable quality but suffer from higher production costs than those of our competitors,” said the Minister for Economic Development, Flavio Zanonato.
The reply from the governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Debora Serracchiani, was not long in coming: “Letta and Zanonato – she said – call us immediately to evaluate together the proposals to be relaunched to the multinational: the Government does not act as a notary of the Swedish will. It is unacceptable for the executive to stand by while what we feared and denounced happens. For Friuli Venezia Giulia, the closure of Porcia is a prospect that we do not take into consideration".
