Jabil, there is a head-on confrontation between the company and the unions

Another black smoke in the dispute at the Jabil plant in Marcianise.

At the Ministry of Labour in Rome, where yet another technical meeting took place yesterday, the vice-president of Jabil Europa Bruno Soler, in the presence of local and national unions, Confindustria Caserta, Labour officials, and MIMIT, reiterated his intention, first announced last April, to cease operations in Marcianise.

Where 420 workers are employed, the alternative is to sell the business unit and its employees to a new company, Tme Assembly Engineering Srl, a new company formed by Tme, a company in Portico di Caserta, and Invitalia, a company of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). This latter solution, already rejected in recent weeks by workers and unions, nevertheless appears to be the only viable option to save 420 jobs.

In a statement, internal union delegates (RSU) explained that "the company has confirmed its withdrawal from the Marcianise site, has not ensured the continuity of its current customer portfolio, and has outlined the only option for continuing production as being to share the project of selling the plant to a third-party contractor (TME Group).

The union once again rejected this approach, citing all the obvious critical issues with this solution regarding the reliability of the receiving company, the overall sustainability of the business outside of Jabil, the guarantees related to professional profiles, and the long-term sustainability of a new company, as envisaged in the plan presented by the multinational.

The RSU, the statement continues, "reiterates, should it be necessary, that it is not available to address or delve into any issues related to this process and will identify all possible means of fighting to keep Jabil in Marcianise, starting with the next assembly scheduled for September 9th, which will be attended by the National Secretariats of Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil, Uilm, and Failms."