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4 June, 2007
On 29 May, ICEM’s three Italian affiliates called a one-day strike across the country for natural gas workers of the Eni, Italy’s largest energy concern. The protest was over the company’s mid-May announcement that it would close 37 of 49 customer service centres.
Italian trade unions Filcem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl, and Uilcem-Uil also conducted a mass mobilisation in Rome on 29 May at Piazzale Mattei, home of Eni’s corporate headquarters. The unions fear Eni will outsource the jobs of its Conus gas and electric subsidiary. The unions also protest unfair transfers of some 250 of 850 jobs that are expected to occur in the restructuring.
The unions contend that transfers of workers to service centres of up to 150 kilometres away from their current job locations will threaten their employment. The unions did negotiate with Eni over the restructuring, but those talks broke off when commitments were not made over which jobs would be retained, and which would be outsourced.
Eni announced that its restructuring would take effect on 1 July. Besides keeping open only 12 service centres, the company would retain only two call centres, in Rome and in Turin.