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26 January, 2009
The multinational pharmaceutical company Menarini was put on notice 15 January by Italian unions to improve its social contract with workers, or face a first eight-hour strike on 30 January. In a statement by the tri-union Coordinating Committee of the Menarini Group, FILCEM-CGIL, FEMCA-CISL, and UILCEM-UIL jointly gave warning that pay and profit-sharing increases must be made to Italian workers, and greater participation in corporate strategies must be granted workers.
The unions are attempting to secure a four-year social compact with the privately-held, Florence-based company, which specialises in development and manufacture of cardiovascular, respiratory, and other drugs. The three unions are still in search of a satisfactory contract with a term stretching from 2008 to 2011.
The statement, issued after a 14 January meeting of the Coordinating Committee in Florence, demands a profit-sharing scheme using a different measure and one weighted more heavily on productivity. The three unions also seek wage quotas that meet the industry medium.
In addition, the unions demand working conditions, job classifications, and job re-organisation which will give workers more say in decision-making. Menarini, Europe’s 19th largest pharmaceutical company, employs 3,850 of its global workforce of 12,500 in Italy. Besides several other Italian worksites, it operates a large bio-technical centre in Pomezia.
In March 2007, the ICEM intervened on behalf of Turkish affiliate Lastik-İş when Menarini’s subsidiary in Istanbul, İbrahim Ethan İlaçlari A.S., sacked union leaders who were seeking Lastik-İş representation. The company’s refusal to abide by a court decree recognising the union caused a plant occupation by workers.