From The International Herald Tribune: Back from vacation, but the work is gone BY ELISABETTA POVOLEDO PERO, ITALY — Like it or not, Italy’s labor force recognizes that the long manufacturing slump may make factory closings inevitable. But this, they say, is no way to do it. At the start of August, the 30 workers of Hydronic Lift, an elevator components company, wished each other well and left on long-planned summer vacations. But when they returned to work three weeks later, they found the gates bolted with chains and padlocks. The company has not disclosed what it plans next. ‘‘Not to be emotional, but if a worker goes on holiday with the fear that he might not come back to a job, well, that can cause serious damage to one’s peace of mind,’’ Alberto Larghi of the metalworkers’ trade union said. ‘‘Events like this can ruin vacations for all workers.’’ It was only the latest in a headline grabbing series of factory closures in Italy that the metalworkers’ union, FIOM-CGIL, which represents the workers at Hydronic Lift, denounced as the ‘‘popular sport among businessmen in the summer of 2013: transforming the summer shutdown into a definitive termination, with no forewarning, taking advantage that the employees are absent.’’ Summer sport is a bit of an overstatement; there have been only a handful of cases, including a factory near Modena where the boss moved the production line for electronic components to Poland under the cover of the August doldrums. But they have stirred the national debate in a country struggling to revitalize manufacturing, once the principal driving force of the economy and now floundering amid a prolonged economic downturn and the pressures of globalization. Though the Hydronic Lift workers are, of course, concerned about the future, they say what upset them most was by the furtiveness of the closure, with no indication it was afoot. Just before the vacation season, employees said, orders were filled, new security cameras were installed and discussions began on increasing production bonuses — hardly a sign of a company on the verge of collapse. ‘‘It’s like a knife to the stomach,’’ said one employee, Domenico Carbonara, who was in Croatia with his family when he got the news that production was abruptly shutting down. For more than a week, he and his co-workers have maintained a round-the-clock stakeout in front of the gates of the midsize factory in an industrial district just outside Milan, fearful that management might try to remove the machinery and make the shutdown irrevocable. Officials with Hydronic Lift, which is privately held, did not return calls and e-mail seeking comment. On Tuesday, labor and management met at Labor Ministry offices in Rome to try negotiating an agreement. Workers want the company to reopen the factory or to redistribute the work force among its other factories. But the company seemed disinclined to accept either option, said Mr. Larghi, who was present at the meeting. ‘‘They claim they’ve had a 40 percent drop in sales, but they’ve also halved their employees,’’ Mr. Larghi said. Meetings with management are scheduled next week in Lombardy, the region where Pero is situated, and then later in the month back in Rome. ‘‘We’re too young to retire, but too old to find work easily,’’ said Antonio Fusarpoli, who is 50 and began working at the Hydronic Lift factory 26 years ago, around the same time as many of his co-workers. He despairs of finding work at his age during a recession. ‘‘It’s tough all over.’’ Over the past 15 years, Hydronic Lift halved its work force, and more recently it occasionally took advantage of a government-endorsed temporary layoff program to scale workers back to a four-day week. A study released in June by the national business lobby Confindustria showed that 15 percent of the manufacturing sector had been destroyed since the economic crisis hit Italy in 2009. Italy’s industrial output is down 25 percent from its peak in 2007. Unemployment now stands at 12 percent. An equally bleak picture emerged in February in a report by the Cerved Group, a business credit information provider, which signaled an increase in bankruptcy and insolvency procedures in 2012, involving some 104,000 companies, a 2.2 percent increase over the previous year. According to the report, more than 45,000 companies have defaulted since 2009, with the industrial sector under greatest duress. Despite a series of measures by the governments of Prime Minister Enrico Letta and his predecessor, Mario Monti, growth continues to elude Italy. Measures to increase employment by simplifying hiring practices have also failed. August data from Eurostat, the official statistics office of the European Union, showed that while Germany and France were breaking out of recession, Italy’s economy continued to lag, shrinking two-tenths of a percent at an annualized rate. And in its interim economic assessment issued Tuesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast that Italy’s gross domestic product would drop 1.8 percent in 2013, the only one among the world’s seven largest economies expected to contract this year. Gustavo Piga, a professor of economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, called Italy ‘‘the sick citizen of Europe,’’ crippled by antiquated infrastructures, nonexistent strategic support and an inefficient public sector that hinders, rather than helps, private enterprise. ‘‘To conquer markets, you need to be more internationalized, have less invasive regulation and more flexible bureaucracy,’’ he said. ‘‘This is why it’s hard to do business in Italy.’’ Some critics have argued that the tradition of shutting down most industries in August might be part of what continues to hinder Italy’s manufacturing industry. France, too, is famous for its summer vacations, when businesses close and give their workers time off with pay, but its economy is less dependent on factory work and it is not still mired in recession. In the past, the Italian industrial ecosystem — from suppliers through distributors — was synchronized to accommodate the August break. ‘‘There was a sort of accord, with a boost in productivity to maximize efficiency both before and after the holidays, to guarantee the supply chain,’’ said Paolo Boccardelli, professor of corporate strategy at the Luiss Guido Carli University, in Rome. But that tradition is rapidly dwindling throughout Italy, with many factories closing for fewer August days to keep stride with a globalized economy. ‘‘The tradition is diminishing because the market is not dictated by the choices of one country any more,’’ Mr. Boccardelli said. Even so, he said, the mid-August holiday, Ferragosto, remains culturally important, ‘‘so it’s very likely that factories will remain closed that week.’’ The summertime lockouts have stirred a public furor. ‘‘Dismantle the Factory and Run,’’ scolded a front-page headline in the daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. Mr. Larghi, the union representative, noted that such closures had happened in the past, ‘‘but only in very small companies without union representation, and it would only make the local news.’’ ‘‘The fact that the company did something so unscrupulous is something negative for the country, and institutions should be vigilant,’’ he said. In Pero, workers contend that Hydronic Lift is not in financial straits. On its Web site, the company claims that ‘‘more than 200,000 lifts worldwide employ the products of our Pero factory.’’ Just before the summer recess, workers said, they filled enough orders to send 15 trucks off to various destinations, both in Italy and abroad. ‘‘This was not the time to shut down a factory, because there was so much work,’’ said Daniele Fiore, a Hydronic Lift worker who was on vacation with his family in the Marche region when he found out he would be out of a job. It is true that the drastic contraction in the Italian construction industry has affected other sectors, including the elevator industry. Traction elevators, which use cables and are faster than the hydraulic elevators Hydronic Lift serves, have also gobbled up a significant share of the market. But nothing prepared the workers for the decision to close. ‘‘Normally if there is a crisis, there is discussion, there is negotiation,’’ Mr. Fiore said. ‘‘There is something barbaric in the way they went about it.’’ ◼ Get the best global news and analysis direct to your device – download the IHT apps for free today! For iPad: itunes.apple/us/app/international-herald-tribune/id404757420?mt=8 For iPhone: itunes.apple/us/app/international-herald-tribune/id404764212?mt=8
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 00:27:18 +0000
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