Max Mara, step back from 100 million plan for 'fashion hub

A half-hearted protest, with 68 employees opting out. Then it turned into a two-day strike, the first in 40 years in Max Mara's history. Finally it became a casus belli that ended up on the mayor's desk and in the city council. With an epilogue that no one would have wished for: the turnaround of the Emilian giant on the 100 million euro investment in the fashion hub, in the area of the former Reggio Emilia Fairgrounds.

"It is frankly impossible to imagine realising the project in a climate of division and instrumentalisation such as the one that has gradually been created," wrote Max Mara Fashion Group president Luigi Maramotti to the city's first citizen Marco Massari. Irrevocable turnaround. Especially after the municipal council meeting of 23 June. A meeting that did not focus on the urban and economic aspects of the project (the pole was to become the group's logistics centre) but rather on 'industrial relations'. In particular, on the harassment - including insults and very strict controls exercised even on the physiological needs of female workers - denounced by some of the workers at Manifattura San Maurizio, one of the group's factories, with 210 employees, mostly women. Harassment denied by the other workers, who in an open letter distanced themselves from accusations 'that in no way reflect the climate inside the factory nor the experience of the majority of us'.

Maramotti had already written to the employees - the group has almost 6,000, about 4,500 of them in Reggio Emilia - observing that the complaint does not 'in any way represent the reality of the facts and that our attention has always been focused on building a working environment based on mutual respect'. But after the discussion in the municipal council, which voted in favour of the project, the mayor received a delegation of the striking workers, without then hearing the company's voice. To whom, at that point, the meeting appeared to be an endorsement of a protest that, even if not unanimous, could tarnish the reputation of the historic multinational.

"The fashion hub is a project separate from the dispute,' says the secretary of the Reggio Emilia CGIL, Cristian Sesena, 'and we have never asked that the investment be subordinated to a trade union path, but only that the issue of working conditions not be forgotten. In fact, he will now also receive a delegation of female workers who have denied their colleagues.

The issue inflames the city. Not least because new jobs are involved. 'Around 900', say the company. And even if the numbers are scaled down by the CGIL - according to which the current logistics workers would also be channelled into the new centre - everyone believes that there should be no stop to the fashion hub. Starting with the secretary of Cisl Emilia Centrale, Rosamaria Papaleo: 'Now we need to go beyond the barricades. Everything is at a standstill: Max Mara (which has a production value of almost 2 billion) will not proceed with the acquisition of the area. Where, thanks to the project, green areas, car parks and cycle and pedestrian paths were also planned.