In Wednesday's meeting at the Ministry of Labour, the representatives of Sky Italia and the trade unions did not reach any agreement on the company's industrial plan. At this point, the dismissal of 102 employees of the Italian subsidiary of the Rupert Murdoch group is looming. In January there were 571, then consensual solutions arrived for 469 employees (82%).
THE COMPANY'S POSITION
For its part, Sky Italia confirms that "it will also face with a sense of responsibility towards the workers the phase following the incomprehensible closure of the trade union organizations in the negotiations relating to its industrial transformation plan which led, late yesterday evening, to the conclusion with failure to agree the procedure to the Ministry of Labour”.
On January 17th, the company announced "the need to be more efficient in order to respond with adequate resources to a rapidly evolving industrial and technological context, intervening on activities that are now obsolete or duplicated, reducing geographical fragmentation and concentrating investments in technological infrastructures at the Milan Santa Giulia Hub”.
From the outset, Sky Italia "has always been transparent and open to dialogue with its employees and all trade union organizations - continues the note - arriving at the signing of a collective agreement with journalists on 6 April and choosing to offer similar individual conditions also to middle managers and white collars, against the unwillingness of the trade union organizations to open a real confrontation. In this way, from the initial number of 571 workers impacted by the plan, consensual solutions were found for 469 employees (equal to 82%) thanks to substantial incentives to voluntarily change headquarters or leave and thanks to internal and external relocations ”.
For the other workers, "the closed position of the trade union organizations - also held in the last few hours at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, also in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and of the Lazio and Lombardy Regions - has unfortunately compromised the possibility of reaching a constructive agreement”.
Finally, Sky Italia undertakes "to make social mitigation tools and outplacement opportunities available to the people involved in the collective dismissal procedures".
THE REPLY OF THE UNIONS
The unions respond that "the company did not want to go beyond the layoffs despite the economic results and the many alternative proposals presented by the trade unions, thus affirming the 'dismissibility' and confirming personnel management without social constraints", reads a note of Slc Cgil, Uilcom Uil and Ugl Telecommunications.
“The hypothesis of partial transfer of workers from Rome to meet organizational needs - the unions continue - was not considered sufficient, because it excluded an audience of workers with legal protection. The dismissal procedure, in fact, impacts on many employees under law 104/92, women on maternity leave, disabled people and extraordinary leave".
"Our proposal to reduce 28 people to part-time work, smart working, retirement for those who had met the legal requirements" was of no use. The assemblies with the workers have been convened for today, "to relaunch the mobilization and proceed with legal protection for those who have been included in the dismissal procedure".
