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.
Administrative Services Office Administrative, Office Support And Other Business Support Activities Activities Of Call Centres 82.20 - Activities of call centres
1,726 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
21 March 2016
Employment effect (start)
30 June 2016
Foreseen end date
Description
Italian IT and call centre group Almaviva has announced 2,988 job cuts affecting the sites in Palermo (1,670), Rome (918) and Naples (400). The redundancies will affect mainly women and under-50 workers, therefore exits implemented via early retirements are ruled out.
The company attributed the decision to cut the jobs to a severe contraction in activities, mainly driven by delocalisation strategies operated by competitors and award criteria based solely on price in public procurement tenders, often alleged to trigger unfair competition.
Trade unions urged the company to consider relocation to other service providers. In the meantime, they called for the government to tackle social dumping by strengthening and enforcing rules in the call centre sector, as well as to work on an agreement with public and private Italian clients (Telecom, Wind, Vodafone, Enel, Alitalia, Poste Italiane, Sky) for the re-shoring of activities currently outsourced to the call centre in Eastern Europe.
Update, 31/05/2016: After negotiations with trade unions and the Ministry of Economic Development, on 31 May 2016 Almaviva signed an agreement reducing the number of redundancies to 2,400 and suspending dismissals. In particular, job security agreements will be activated for a maximum period of 18 months, envisaging a reduction in working time equivalent to the number of redundancies, to be gradually reintegrated after the first six months. Meetings will be held in the forthcoming months in order to monitor the implementation of the agreement.
Update, 21/06/2016: The week following the agreement, the company offered a €1,000 incentive for voluntary dismissals. About 60 workers accepted the offer and will leave the company at the end of the month.
Update 29/12/2016: After the company reopened the collective dismissal procedure for the sites in Rome and Naples in October, the parties reached a new agreement.
The workers of the site located in Naples will benefit from social shock absorbers until April 2017. Over the next three months, exits will possibly occur only on a voluntary basis, while the parties committed themselves to negotiate temporary wage cuts and the introduction of a new software monitoring workers' performance.
The workers’ representatives of the site in Rome decided not to sign the agreement and call for a referendum among workers. On 27 December 2016, workers at the site in Rome approved the document. Yet, the company refused to reopen negotiations as the formal duration of the collective dismissal procedure had already expired. As a consequence, the 1,666 workers at the site will be laid off.
Further developments are expected also for the Palermo site. The company recently announced the decision to move 62 workers to its site in Rende, a decision which raised strong opposition. The most contentious issue concerned the lack of compliance with the conditions previously agreed with Exprivia, the company who replaced Almaviva in the supply of call centre services to Enel. Although Exprivia formally agreed to hire back 297 Almaviva workers, this opportunity was finally granted only to 235 persons.
Update 26/09/2017: Italy applied for support from the Globalisation Fund following the closure of Almaviva Contact's premises in Rome and the dismissal of 1,646 workers that followed. The Commission proposed to provide Italy with EUR 3.3 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 1,610 former workers at Almaviva Contact find new jobs. The proposal now goes to the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers for approval.
Sources
21 March 2016: Rai News
21 March 2016: Corriere Comunicazioni
23 March 2016: Il manifesto
31 May 2016: Il Fatto Quotidiano
Citation
Eurofound (2016), Almaviva, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 86929, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/86929.
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