Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The call centre company Almaviva Contact announced that in the first ten days of September it will open a collective dismissal procedure involving 1,600 operators of its site in Palermo.
During a meeting at the employer association Sicindustria, Almaviva Contact presented to the trade unions the economic data of the Palermo office, which show a loss of €5.7 million. Furthermore, the company informed the trade union delegation that, with the exception of some temporary increases that will exclusively concern the months of July and August, the clients have not proposed any increase in volumes useful to consolidate jobs at the Palermo site.
The trade unions expressed strong preoccupation and asked for the involvement of public institutions.
Almaviva dismissed 1,646 call centre worker in Rome in 2017.
Update, 25/09/2019: A summit between the call centre company, the trade unions and the ministers of labour and Southern Italy, ended with an agreement suspending the layoffs announced by Almaviva Contact, at least until March 2020. The agreement entails an extension of solidarity contracts, already applied to the workforce, for the next six months. This transitional solution should allow to discuss a more comprehensive intervention for the problems of the telecommunications sector and, in particular, outsourcing and downwards price competition issues. A negotiation table at the Ministry of Labour has already been called for October 14.
Eurofound (2019), Almaviva Contact, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 98202, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/98202.