C&C: 400 employees have not been paid since March; the company is moving towards a composition with creditors scheme

Four hundred employees of C&C Spa, an Apple partner company and distributor of the American multinational’s products, have not been paid since March: the trade unions Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs have sounded the alarm and called for industrial action. The company is based in Bari, and the trade unions have stated: ‘Every possible effort must be made to safeguard jobs and ensure a continued income for workers’. Meanwhile, following the application for access to crisis management measures, the Court of Bari has granted the company the protective measures it had requested and has appointed lawyer Giuseppe Miccolis and chartered accountants Nicola Notarnicola and Luciana Muserra as administrators. C&C now has 60 days (extendable) to submit its composition plan.

By the end of March, C&C had accumulated debts of 128 million, and now a binding expression of interest worth 25 million euros to sell its stores in the Baltic states could be the solution to save the company, which is owned by brothers Michele and Luca Gigli. Having started twenty years ago with a single shop in Bari, it now has 130 shops across Europe (49 in Italia), 113 service centres and 1,300 employees, for whom a furlough scheme is set to begin in July. A severe liquidity crisis, caused by a variety of factors, led the main supplier, Td Syntex, to file for bankruptcy against C&C in April over 4.7 million in unpaid debts. Two other suppliers subsequently joined the petition, each claiming approximately 900,000 euros. In response to all this, C&C has taken legal action and drawn up an anti-crisis plan.

“Since March,” say the trade unions, “C&C Spa, an Apple premium partner and the operator of a retail and support network in Italia and other European countries, has failed to pay the wages of the more than 400 workers it employs in our country.” And, the trade unions add, “whilst the company, pressed by the trade unions, provided incomplete information on its economic and financial health, without mentioning any possible restructuring measures, the liquidity crisis and the debts accumulated with suppliers left the approximately 50 Italian shops almost completely out of stock, resulting in the suspension of wages.”

Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs state that they “learned from the newspapers, following the meeting with the company, of the filing with the Court of Bari of a crisis resolution procedure following the bankruptcy petition lodged by suppliers, a development which has prevented the payment of outstanding wages, leaving workers in a state of grave uncertainty. We demand clarity from C&C regarding the prospects for saving the business – state Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs – and that every possible effort be made to safeguard employees’ jobs and ensure their continued income. We have learnt of plans to sell off some of C&C’s overseas subsidiaries in order to raise cash, and we reiterate the urgent need to open talks with the trade unions to find solutions that, above all, protect the workers.”