All Prysmian’s problems in Italy
Prysmian: on the one hand a series of dazzling announcements about glittering orders and accounts, on the other orders that are languishing and also the layoffs. Facts, numbers and insights
Only last September 7th was the news released on the agencies (to find them you need to rely on Google because the company website has not updated the CS section since 2022 ) that Prysmian had been awarded a new contract worth approximately 630 million euros awarded by Terna Rete Italia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Terna, for the Adriatic Link which includes the design, supply, installation and testing of a high voltage direct current submarine interconnection, which will contribute to the decarbonisation of the Italian energy system , therefore strengthening the country's role as an energy hub in the Mediterranean.
PRYSMIAN CONQUERS EUROPE
While at the end of August another press release warned that Prysmian had been chosen as the "preferred bidder" in Germany for a possible 4.5 billion contract. On this site in an article dated 16 September we read: “It is a world leader in the cable sector for both energy transport and telecommunications and a couple of weeks ago the Italian Prysmian Group was awarded a maxi-order in Germany for the supply of cables that will connect the offshore wind farms in the North Sea with the industrial districts of Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Westphalia […] to continue all the activities already in the pipeline, the company is looking for a around ninety professional figures".
HIRING IN VIEW?
Then the press release goes into detail: “For the Milan office there is a need for: business development manager, diagnostic and offshore platform engineer, energy cable technology engineer, installation design engineer, IT program manager, marine management assistant, offshore diagnostic platform engineer , offshore superintendent, offshore project division, project office manager, project quality manager, proposal installation engineer, R&D qualifications engineer, sales & supply chain business partner manager, system engineer, submariner installation asset superintendent, submariner installation vessel manager and technical sales support specialist” .
“For the Battipaglia headquarters” the group is looking for: deposition scientist and production line operator. For the Livorno office of: controller and electrical lab engineering. For the Merlino office, in the province of Lodi, by: cable design specialist. For the Palermo office of: field It engineer, system design engineer and software engineer. For the Pignataro Maggiore headquarters, in the province of Caserta, of: production planning. For the Quatordio headquarters; in the province of Alessandria, of: maintenance operator. There are also numerous – the article concludes – internship opportunities”.
AND IN THE MEANWHILE THE CIG STARTS
Up to this point it would seem that the group specialized in the production of cables for applications in the energy and telecommunications sectors and of optical fibers is running at the speed of light. But then in the last few hours a joint statement signed by the main trade union organizations (FILCTEM – FEMCA – UILTEC) revealed that the situation is not so rosy.
Despite the impressive orders and freshly published job advertisements, Prysmian is about to resort to the use of social safety nets for around 500 employees of the Fos in Battipaglia (Salerno) and for the Pignataro site (Caserta).
QUALITY DOES NOT COUNT IN ITALIAN TENDERS (CHINA THANKS YOU)
In particular, the FOS plant in Battipaglia (Salerno) produces optical fiber for the digital network and, according to what the unions explain, " has already had market difficulties for some years , because the high quality of the technology produced affects the final price, which is higher to that of similar Chinese or Indian products which, however, are of lower quality and cost, as well as the result of dumping recognized by the European Community". In short, it is unable to be competitive ( here is an in-depth analysis by Start Magazine on Prysmian's criticisms of the Italian system ).
“This condition – complain FILCTEM, FEMCA and UILTEC – means that the plant does not have a national outlet market, because the government tenders on digitalisation currently underway do not provide any technical specifications on quality. For this reason, the providers in charge of laying the fiber prefer low quality and lower cost products, which also have predictable consequences on the duration and reliability of the national data network".
ENEL AND GOVERNMENT THE MAIN DEFENDANTS
“This – the workers' representatives continue to denounce – does not happen in other European countries, most recently France, whose governments have legislated on the matter, introducing minimum and obligatory qualitative and technical parameters for participation in public tenders and thus guaranteeing the of orders to national players".
And again: "This involves not only the valorization of Italian companies that operate and invest for the strengthening of the digital transition – much needed by the country system and the economy as a whole – but lower costs for the replacement and maintenance interventions of the fiber to be part of the local administrations, which thus intervene less in the opening and closing of roads for cable laying".
“This lack of industrial policy choice in the qualitative investment of the digital network – the collapse of the trade unions – makes Prysmian decide to put the plant on the market, in the hope of finding a buyer willing to invest in new technology and absorb all the staff currently in force, to lower fixed costs. Production is in fact highly energy-intensive and requires further efficiency measures. 70 temporary workers were not confirmed immediately and the ordinary zero-hour redundancy fund for 13 weeks was announced, with a dramatic impact on the income of workers".
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CASERTA AREA
As for the Pignataro plant (Caserta), it produces cables for high and medium voltage and operates for Enel contracts for 50% of production. In this case the condition in which it finds itself would be the fault of Enel which, "for the first time, blocked the orders already acquired by Prysmian, due to a misalignment between the volumes already in stock and its installation capacity in the territory. This has an immediate impact: Prysmian has started a period of ordinary layoffs and has not confirmed around twenty temporary workers, creating, in this case too, an employment and salary problem".
Hence the bitter conclusion of the workers' representatives: "The lack of choices on the industrial, environmental and digital policies of the Government and Enel are strongly compromising the realization of the investments envisaged by the PNRR for the infrastructure and strengthening of the digital and energy networks of our Village".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tutti-gli-intoppi-di-prysmian-in-italia/ on Mon, 18 Sep 2023 09:19:49 +0000.