Whirlpool presented the restructuring plan of the administrative offices and according to what was said by Gianluca Ficco, national coordinator of Uilm, at the end of the table at the Ministry of Economic Development, ”adds another 480 redundancies: total redundancies in Italy thus rise a 2.060 out of 6.700 employees, of which 1.430 in factories, 150 in R&D and 480 in administration”.
From these numbers, added the trade unionist, "however, the 280 employment increases that are planned in Cassinetta, in the province of Varese, should be deducted". Of the 480 new redundancies announced in the administrative offices, 200 are in Varese, 200 in Fabriano, 80 in Milan. The Government's reaction was immediate, which after a month of continuous meetings with the company and the trade unions, made it known through the words of the Minister of Economic Development Federica Guidi to consider the plan presented by Whirlpool to be "unqualified", because "no progress has been made in this period of time".
Whirlpool's request to increase the redundancies from 1.350 to 2.060, effectively cutting 30% of employees in Italy it is "irresponsible" for the general secretary of the Fim, Marco Bentivogli who asks the "Government for a clear and strong response or the clash will be inevitable". Even Ficco himself reiterated the concept: "We ask for the full support of the Government to change the mind of the American multinational".
Whirlpool for its part explains in a note that “the acquisition of Indesit has doubled the size of the company in Europe but has had as a result also the duplication of some roles, which currently needs to be addressed in order to ensure an efficient and effective organisation”. In the note, the US company reiterates that "following the approach adopted so far in the integration process, and in line with what has been announced in the industrial plan for Italy, the Company confirms its willingness not to proceed with unilateral dismissals until at the end of 2018 also for the white-collar population".
