The reorganization plan presented yesterday by Sky Italia to the unions provides for 200 redundancies and 300 transfers from Rome to Milan, where the SkyTG24 structure will be transferred. Exceptions are the political editorial staff and that of Central Italy, which will be located in a new location in the center of the capital.
The goal is an "organizational transformation that aims at efficiency - writes the company in a note - by intervening on obsolete activities, reducing the geographical fragmentation of activities and the consequent duplications, as well as concentrating investments in technological infrastructures at the Hub of Milan Santa Giulia, a European reference point for many of its activities. It is therefore a question of aiming in the next few years at the development of a cutting-edge technological center at an international level, which can play a key role for the Sky Group. In fact, European centers of competence have already been created in Milan, such as those relating to Broadcasting and IT activities at the service of Sky Germany and the European hubs for Sky Arte and Original Productions”.
From 2003 to today, the note continues, “Sky has invested around 20 billion euros in content and technologies in Italy, generating over 32 billion euros of positive impact on the Italian economy. To be even more innovative, it is essential to continue investing in new, more efficient infrastructures that maximize the value of the resources already committed and those foreseen for the future. The plan provides for a series of efficiency actions that involve all the offices and most of the corporate departments to varying degrees, including the IT and technology department, the commercial departments overseeing the territory, the staff functions and the SkyTG24 structure. Sky wanted to start an open dialogue with the Union Organizations and Representatives from today, fully aware that the proposed organizational plan will have a significant impact on professional activities and on some colleagues, and therefore hopes for a collaborative discussion in order to pursue the best possible result for workers".
The journalists' response was not long in coming: "The employees of Sky's Rome headquarters learned from the CEO Andrea Zappia, of the transfer of Sky TG24 and other business sectors, from the Rome office to the Milan office - writes the Cdr – The plan presented by the company reveals 120 redundancies between technicians and journalists and 300 transfers out of a total of around 600 employees currently employed in the Rome office. The Editorial Board expresses concern about the employment repercussions and the impact on the lives of hundreds of colleagues and their families. We expressed to the company our opposition to a transfer that would eradicate a news program which has been broadcast from Rome since its first edition in 2003 and which, in the capital, has built its credibility by proving to be a protagonist of the Italian information panorama. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to take further initiatives after the journalists' meeting”.
