What Whirlpool can and should do
Whirlpool, because a step back from the decision to close is possible. The speech by Massimiliano Nobis, national secretary of Fim Cisl
Whirlpool Corporation's cash flow is exceptionally strong: “I am very, very proud of what we have achieved in the third quarter, this has been a great quarter. We beat our previous all-time high of more than 50%, are seeing an improvement in operating profit of 75%, so this is a great quarter. What is more important is that the fourth quarter is equally strong “. These were the words of Marc Bitzer CEO of Whirlpool Corporation in an interview with Cnbc on 23 October.
A day earlier in the meeting of the MiSE in videoconference with the ministers Patuanelli and Provenzano, the undersecretary Todde and the trade unions, the managing director La Morgia confirmed the closure of the Naples site on October 31 "as a result of the lack of production saturation of the plant that has been going on for years, despite the attempt to invest in a medium-high range washing machine between the end of 2018 and the first half of 2019 ".
A throwaway news, which adds to the great uncertainty and instability that the rekindling of the pandemic is spreading, which undermines the economic and social stability of a complicated territory such as the Parthenopean one and the South in general, heavily affected by the crisis.
Right now we are witnessing the riots against the new anti- covid rules in the city ridden by extreme political fringes and as reported by the anti- mafia – probably also by the organized crime, a disturbing signal that we must take into account. Every legal workplace in these territories is a defense of legality that steals labor from the organized crime.
This is why Whirlpool's decision to close the Naples site is extremely serious. But to this social implication is added an even heavier one, and serious because it is not a reconversion but a closure without appeals in spite of the commitments made in the institutional by the company and contravenes the commitments signed with the Government and with trade unions.
An incomprehensible choice also because the procedure for the sale of the Campania plant had been suspended until 31 October, a step backwards, which had as the common objective of the parties the search for a shared solution.
But this dispute is also the victim of irresponsible political laxity. The leaders of Whirlpool already in April last year had warned the then Minister of the MiSE Luigi Di Maio of the decision of the Whirlpool board, who did not make the case public for electoral reasons, because the European elections would be held at the end of May 2019 . A waste of time that played against the workers. Then, more recently, when the company's desire to sell the Naples site emerged, PRS (Passive Refrigeration Solutions) came to the table, a company without employees and based in Lugano that wanted to produce containers in the Campania site. refrigerated. A project that has never convinced and that stalled completely with the withdrawal of the purchase offer by PRS last July.
Now recovering will be very complicated especially if the company does not backtrack from the closing decision that allows us to have time to find a stable and prospective work solution for the Campania site of the US group. If this does not happen, a problem of no small importance would arise, not only for the workers and the Naples site but for the entire Group which has several production sites in Italy.
In addition to Naples, the American multinational has production sites in Carinaro (CE), Fabriano (AN), Comunanza (AP), Siena, Biandronno (VA) but apart from the latter, the others are not working at full capacity and are under contract of solidarity. The discontent among the workers with respect to the Naples affair is in fact creating a strong rupture between a company that has over 5,000 employees in Italy and the Italian system. A choice that even in the face of the reduction in supply chains that covid-19 has imposed on us, would require a more careful reflection on the part of Whirlpool's top management on the choices made in Naples.
It must be said, among other things, that another multinational Electrolux which in 2015 threatened to leave Italy to relocate to Eastern Europe where the cost of labor was lower. Thanks to the mobilization of the trade union and the intervention of the Government, the Swedish multinational took a step back, an agreement was found that today, 5 years later is showing that even in Italy it is possible to make household appliances with profit margins without affecting the cost of work as long as you invest in innovative and high-margin products.
The real challenge today that Italy can play in this sector is on the smart appliance, the one connected to the upgradeable and programmable, technological and sustainable network (as well as the energy plan also on the ecological one, through the use of certified materials that can fall within the production chain of recycling) and design, where Italy is among the best in the world.
In this area of the market, the development and profitability margins are very high and the development prospects are high. Our country was the first producer of household appliances in Europe, what was once called the "white sector" after the restructuring of the late 1990s and 2000s, in Italy today there are about 35 thousand white workers, out of a total community of 200 thousand. They are workers with great skills and experience, a capital that right in the face of the digital challenge can restore competitive space and employment to the sector even in Italy.
Precisely for this reason we think that Whirlpool, which in Italy has an important presence, this show of strength against Naples is devoid of logic and undermines the relationship with the Government, with the trade unions and with all the workers of the Group.
The workers of Naples deserve greater respect. Even if we are talking about two completely different sectors, we believe that it is necessary for the board of the American multinational to demonstrate the courage that Fiat (now FCA) had since 2001 in relaunching the Pomigliano D'Arco plant which is located a few kilometers from the plant. of Whirlpool, a plant that today is among the top of the Group for quality and productivity.
Fiat has bet on the productive recovery of that site, through heavy investments, on processes and human resources and has bet on the production of a low-margin product like the Panda in order to start and maintain production over time. There was a reshoring process from Poland and it was expected that in the first years of production there would be losses that would have been absorbed by the positive numbers of the group.
The third quarter of the year saw double-digit growth results in the EMEA area (Europe Middle East Africa) that had not clashed for 4 years. Whirlpool President Enea Gles Morel in commenting on these data thanked all the workers of the group.
These positive data reinforce our request to urgently review the decision to close the Naples plant, to envisage a negotiation aimed at relaunching and reindustrialising the site with structural investments on lines and workers. It was possible at Electrolux, even Whirlpool can.
Massimiliano Nobis , national secretary of Fim Cisl
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/cosa-puo-e-deve-fare-whirlpool/ on Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:23:35 +0000.