Whirlpool intends to abandon the Naples plant by 2020. The American multinational itself wrote it in a communication sent to Sec (the American Consob) last October 31, just one day after the agreement with the Italian government on the stay in the Campania capital.
“The company's preliminary agreement to sell the plant to a third party buyer remains in force – reads the text – without prejudice to the effects of these further negotiations. The company intends to complete its restructuring and cease production at the plant in the coming months with expected output in 2020”. Later, the company also reiterates that production will continue "only in the short term".
In reality, Whirlpool has never really reversed its decision to abandon Naples, reiterating on every occasion that the production of high-end washing machines in the Neapolitan factory is not economically viable and that the only possibility of survival is reconversion and transfer. The document sent to the SEC specifies that "a preliminary agreement has been entered into to sell the Naples production plant to a third-party buyer": the reference is to Giovan Battista Ferrario's PRS, with its plan for the production of refrigerated containers.
Some workers are convinced that the turning point will come in March, when the social shock absorbers will expire. “Time passes in inertia and the perfect storm is brewing – comments Barbara Tibaldi, national secretary of Fiom-Cgil – also because shock absorbers expire in all Italian plants. For this reason we ask the company to anticipate the discussion on the group's overall industrial plan. The only plant that really works is the one in Varese”.
Meanwhile, Thursday will be held in the factory an assembly of 420 workers. There is an air of mobilisation. In a note Fim, Fiom and Uilm ask the Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli, to convene a table on the crisis of the Whirlpool factory in Naples on 20 January.
