CWT, first meeting on the 190 redundancies

The trade unions are calling on CWT to withdraw the collective redundancy procedure affecting 190 people, approximately 45 per cent of the 429 employees of the business travel operator acquired in 2025 by Amex GBT (American Express Global Business Travel), which was subsequently acquired by the private equity fund Long Lake Management for $6.3 billion. Following the announcement of the redundancy plan, an initial meeting took place at a Milan-based law firm representing the company, during which Filcams, Fisascat and Uiltucs made it clear that, unless the redundancies are withdrawn, they do not intend to enter into any negotiations. In the trade unions’ view, there are many ways to resolve a situation that has been critical for some time, such as that at CWT. This is all the more true now that CWT has become part of Amex GBT, which opens up the possibility of various solutions, ranging from voluntary redundancies with severance packages to transfers from one company to another. The company, through the law firm representing it, has indicated that it will take until Monday to provide a response.

At that point, two scenarios could arise. Should the response be negative – and the redundancies therefore not be withdrawn – protests and industrial action would begin against the business travel operator, which counts many institutions, including, historically, the Chamber of Deputies, amongst its clients. Should the response be positive – meaning a willingness to enter into discussions whilst removing the 190 collective redundancies from the table – it is likely that talks would begin to identify various measures to mitigate the social impact of the dispute: ranging from outplacement schemes to incentivised voluntary redundancies and internal redeployment within the Amex GBT group. Workers’ representatives are calling for the dialogue to be framed within an expanded group structure that includes Amex GBT – which operates in Italia through Uvet GBT – rather than focusing solely on CWT. According to trade union sources, however, CWT’s operations are reportedly being phased out in favour of Amex GBT, whilst activities that can be carried out by artificial intelligence are also being identified.

The trade unions believe that this massive reorganisation is driven by purely economic motives and must be seen as part of a broader plan, given that, as a trade union statement explains, we are faced with ‘a case where the use of new technologies concentrates economic and productive benefits in the hands of companies, whilst leaving workers to bear the social costs of the transformations taking place: this is one of the first instances in which the use of artificial intelligence is having a significant impact on the employment landscape: what should be an opportunity for development and growth, if not properly regulated, is reduced to a mere tool for cutting labour costs’. With the inclusion of Long Lake Management in the strategy, “there has clearly been an intention to integrate expertise in the field of artificial intelligence with that of Amex GBT in the business travel sector, setting out objectives for growth, innovation and enhanced competitiveness along these lines”, write Filcams, Fisascat and Uiltucs. For the trade unions, however, none of this can result in the loss of almost one in two jobs.