Type
Internal restructuring
Country
Italy
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Food And Beverage
Manufacture Of Food Products
10 - Manufacture of food products

350 - 450 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
4 December 2006
Employment effect (start)
1 January 2007
Foreseen end date

Description

Unilever is a global market leader in several categories of home, personal care and foods products. It employs 223,000 people in 100 countries worldwide.

In Italy, it has seven plants and employs around 5,000 workers: three plants belong to the Ice cream and frozen food division and are located in Cagliari, Caivano (Napoli) and Cisterna (Latina); two plants belong to the Foods and Food solutions divisions and are located in Inveruno (Milano) and Sanguinetto (Verona); two plants belong to the Home and personal care division and are located in Casalpusterlengo (Lodi) and Pozzilli (Isernia).

At the beginning of 2005 Unilever announced a reorganisation plan called 'Unilever one'. The first step of the plan consisted in a merger between all the company-controlled firms belonging to the food and personal care sectors (Unilever Italia owns brands as Bertolli, Maya, Pro-Active, Lipton, Knorr, Algida and Findus).

At the beginning of December, the company announced the second part of the reorganisation plan which envisages: the closure of the plant located at Cagliari with the consequent loss of 150 jobs; the cutback of the current workforce which should be reduced by 500-600 units (including the 150 job losses due to the closure of the Cagliari plant); and the transfer of the company’s headquarter from Milan to Rome.

The company’s representatives and the trade unions have planned some meetings in order to reduce the negative social impact of lay-offs.


Sources

  • 5 December 2007: Il Sole 24 Ore

Citation

Eurofound (2006), Unilever Italia, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 64731, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/64731.