CGIL, 118 thousand workers affected by industrial crises: here are the most affected sectors

In 2024, 'the number of tables at the crisis unit at Mimit has increased enormously: 105,974 workers are involved. In January there were 58,026'. From automotive to chemistry, fashion, paper, energy: it is "a discouraging scenario, which is likely to be aggravated" what the CGIL outlines by updating the data at the end of the year, according to the Ansa agency. "In addition, as recorded in the Collettiva.it 'diary of crises', there are 12,336 employees of small and medium-sized companies that have lost their jobs, disputes that have not even reached the institutions". Overall, 'there are 118,310 who have already lost their jobs or are floundering at the tables'.

For the CGIL, 'the numerous open disputes in 2024 speak of a total inability of the public to address industrial policies in strategic and relevant sectors for the country'. The sectors most affected by the crisis on the tables at the ministry - the union points out - arethe auto and its supply chain, basic chemistry, the fashion system, the paper industry, and energy for the phase-out of coal-fired power plants. For the CGIL, "a total incapacity of the public" on industrial policies is added to the fact that "the business system is not able, on its own, to compete and to respond to the challenges of the great transitions, green and digital, which from a potential flywheel for the economy risk turning into a further opportunity of impoverishment for our production and industrial system, with the consequent growth of job insecurity. Even when crises end positively, the trade union warns, "often the employment balance is negative: in short, buffer solutions, but all united by substantial deindustrialisation and loss of production quality".

In recent days, 'some important disputes have added to an already dramatic picture. To give just a few examples, among the most significant: Beko (engineering, 'white' household appliances) 4,400 employees; Bellco (biomedical) 500 employees; Eni Versalis (basic chemicals) 8,000 direct plus 24,000 induced; Coin and Conbipel (commerce) 2,000 + 1,400 employees; Meta System (engineering, auto induced) 700 employees; Giano, Gruppo Fedrigoni (paper mill) 300 direct and induced; Almaviva Contact (telecommunications) 494 redundancies as of 31 December'.

The union warns that 'it is necessary to consider that the institutions, the ministry and the regions, are used to dealing only with the crisis of the industrial site of the 'mother' company, and not with the entire production chain, which often has as many employees, or more, than the direct ones: temporary and contract workers, logistics, canteens, industrial civil cleaning, mechanical maintenance workers'. According to the union, this situation 'is the result of decades of lack of planning and absence of industrial policies, which have left the issue of development to the market alone, with the consequences that are there for all to see. This is confirmed by the data on industrial production, which has kept the minus sign for 21 months," the CGIL stresses again.

"The transformations taking place in industry and markets impose public policies for the re-industrialisation of the country, protection policies supported by a shock absorber dedicated to crises and employment policies that re-employ the workers expelled from the production processes of companies in crisis, through their professional retraining, in activities compatible with the transition,' the union points out. And, where this is not possible, in projects and plans for re-employment in support of the community, in sectors that are increasingly put to the test in the climate and environmental crisis we are going through.