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.
Matera-Iesce, Altamura Graviscella and Altamura via dellAvena
Sector
Manufacturing Manufacturing Of Furniture And Other Manufacturing Manufacture Of Furniture 31 - Manufacture of furniture
200 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
12 May 2006
Employment effect (start)
1 June 2006
Foreseen end date
1 June 2008
Description
The Natuzzi group is one of the worlds leading designer and manufacturer of upholstered furniture. The companys plants are concentrated in Southern Italy, between the Puglia and the Basilicata regions. Since 1970, in these regions, the district of Italian sofa industry has developed around Natuzzi, which is the leading company. The company exports 90% of its production to 135 countries, employs 4,431 workers in Italy, where it has 12 plants, and about 3,000 workers in China, Brazil and Romania.In 2004, the company recorded a severe economic loss and announced the first reorganisation plan. The crisis was principally due to: the greater market competition by manufacturers located in countries where labour costs are significantly lower than in Italy; the unfavourable euro/dollar exchange rate; a production organisation which hasnt enabled Natuzzi group to compete in the international market.
On 12 May 2006, the company announced the second reorganisation plan that provides the closure of five among the eight Natuzzi plants that produce sofas in Italy and a complete reorganisation of the production cycle in all the groups factories. The plan envisages 200 redundancies; moreover, the company demands to the government the application of the Wage Guarantee Fund (cassa integrazione guadagni, cig) for 570 employees of the group. Workers will be under the Wage Guarantee Fund scheme starting from June 2006 and the scheme will cover the two-year period 2006-2008. Finally, the plan provides new investments in the Italian plants with a view to reorganise the production cycle and to re-launch the competitiveness of the Italian sofas district.
The Natuzzi group, the presidents of the Puglia and the Basilicata regional administrations and the representatives of the workers of the sofa industry are discussing the situation in order to elaborate adequate initiatives for the outplacement and redeployment of redundant personnel and to define the various details of the application of the Wage Guarantee Fund scheme.
Sources
13 May 2006: Il Sole 24 Ore
Citation
Eurofound (2006), Natuzzi, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 63517, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/63517.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
