NDuring today's meeting at the Ministry of Economic Development, Whirlpool EMEA welcomed Minister Di Maio's openness to working with institutions and social partners according to the guidelines shared by the MiSE. This solution will aim to guarantee industrial continuity at the plant and the highest employment levels, in order to create the conditions for a sustainable future for the Naples site. During the meeting, Whirlpool EMEA confirmed the strategic importance of Italy within the EMEA region, both from an industrial and commercial point of view. Whirlpool, a leading company in the household appliances sector, has been one of the largest investors in Italy in recent years. With the signing of the Industrial Plan, Whirlpool confirmed its intention to continue on this path. Whirlpool EMEA reserves the right to evaluate in detail the measures included in the guidelines signed yesterday by Minister Di Maio and addressed respectively to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, the MiSE and Invitalia, the details of which are still unknown. These actions could, in fact, represent important elements of innovation for the Company's Industrial Plan and for its industrial competitiveness in Italy. Whirlpool EMEA makes itself available immediately and commits, as an immediate priority, to proceed with discussions with all the parties involved in order to define the details of the solution for the Naples site and its people.
"This week I have forcefully asked Whirlpool not to abandon Naples, otherwise we would not have continued the discussion. The company today at the table said for the first time that it will no longer withdraw from the plant. This is the basis on which to build and we expect answers within the next week". This is how Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Luigi Di Maio commented on the outcome of today's table on Whirlpool at the Mise in a post on Facebook.
After today's meeting at the Ministry of Economic Development on the future of the Whirlpool plant in Naples, "in fact, everything has been postponed until next week. We certainly cannot say that it was satisfactory, there are some openings but everything has to be verified on the basis of the proposal that will arrive and the guarantees that will be given". This is what the national secretary of Fim Cisl, Alessandra Damiani, wrote in a note, adding that at the moment "no one, neither the company nor the minister have given us guarantees on the continuity of the production mission for the Naples site". Next week "we expect concrete answers to these which to date are only declarations of principle, which still leave a concrete and serious answer to the industrial plan for the Neapolitan site pending", she concluded.
"Today we have finally managed to reopen a glimmer of dialogue with Whirlpool, based on one assumption: that the Company will not withdraw from Naples. However, we know that it will not be easy to move from a generic corporate declaration of willingness to find a solution to the actual resolution of the dispute. We ask that the discussion start from an analysis of the industrial situation and of the possible measures that could be able to support a relaunch of the Naples plant". Thus Gianluca Ficco, national secretary of Uilm at the end of the meeting. "More specifically, we have proposed - continues Ficco - both to the multinational and to the Ministry to evaluate the impact of a refinancing of the so-called decontribution of solidarity contracts, which in the past has helped to successfully resolve similar disputes, as well as a reduction of those taxes that the Jobs Act has placed on companies that, instead of firing, try to avoid redundancies through the temporary use of social safety nets. In this way, in fact, we would correct a real paradox, which today makes it less expensive for companies to fire rather than use conservative social safety nets”. “It is good to strongly penalize – he concludes – companies that practice predatory behavior, but for the same reason we must incentivize and support those who invest to overcome crises. We hope that at the next meeting with Whirlpool, on the basis of these principles, we can discuss how to save the Naples plant and more generally safeguard its presence in Italy. If the multinational continues to hide behind rhetorical formulas without reaching a real confrontation, it would mean that it is playing cat and mouse with Italian workers and that it is pre-establishing an alibi to adopt unilateral actions. In that case, it would assume responsibility”. (
Article published on 12 June 2019 - 20:52
