Rwm: agreement between the company and the trade union on the permanent employment of temporary staff

An agreement between the company and the trade unions to stabilise the employment status of temporary workers. The agreement was signed by trade union representatives and the senior management of RWM, a company based in Ghedi with operations in Sardinia which, under the control of Rheinmetall, produces military equipment and drones at its plants some fifty kilometres from Cagliari. The agreement provides for the permanent employment, between 2026 and 2028, of agency workers. Over the three-year period, these workers – currently employed by temporary work agencies and working at the Domusnovas plant and the warehouses in Iglesias and Musei – will be taken on as permanent staff.

This marks a new phase in the project, which involves investment of around 140 million euros and the creation of 200 new jobs within a production system that currently employs around 400 workers and manufactures military equipment and drones, for which orders totalling 200 million euros have been received.

The agreement signed by the RSU and the managing director, Fabio Sgarzi, comes ‘after more than two years of disruption to production capacity due to unexpected delays in the completion of the ex-post Environmental Impact Assessment procedure relating to the R200 and R210 departments’. The new production lines have been fully operational for several months now.

‘The Plan will cover approximately 60 per cent of agency workers over the three-year period 2026–2028,’ reads the joint statement signed by the RSU delegates and the chief executive, ‘and will ensure greater opportunities for continued employment through various means: permanent employment at RWM Italia, staff leasing contracts and the conversion of temporary contracts to permanent ones at the employment agencies.” Furthermore, the agreement also emphasises that this first step will be followed by another: ‘The exceptional commitment jointly undertaken by the employment agencies, which – it is reiterated – will independently increase by 10 per cent the number of new permanent contracts generated each year by RWM Italia’.

According to Stefano Saddi, RSU representative and Filctem executive, “the agreement reached represents a significant step forward, a concrete and important achievement, resulting from trade union negotiations”. “It will be essential to ensure that the commitments made are honoured, to effectively monitor the implementation of the Plan,” he adds, “and to continue the dialogue so that the opportunities for permanent employment translate into tangible results for the workers concerned.”