Whirlpool: general strike in Naples, workers in Piazza Dante

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05 November 2020The song of the Whirlpool workers resounded in Naples, in a Piazza Dante that this morning was filled in compliance with the anti Covid rules: four hours of general strike of the industry and the tertiary sector called by Cgil, Cisl and Uil to give life to a demonstration that brought together the workers of companies in crisis in the metropolitan area of ​​Naples.

At the center of the scene, the employees of Whirlpool, a few days after the definitive closure of the site in via Argine in the Ponticelli district, the only plant of the multinational in southern Italy. The protest was inaugurated by the workers who intoned a battle cry of Chilean origin before making room for the various interventions on the stage of the RSU of Whirlpool and other companies in economic difficulty. Alongside the workers present in the square also a delegation from the Municipality of Naples, headed by the deputy mayor Enrico Panini, and the former President of the Campania Region, Antonio Bassolino.

"This is a symbolic dispute for the city that gives the sign of many other difficult situations - explains number 2 of Palazzo San Giacomo -. The Government must do its job by imposing on those who invest and intervene in Italy to respect our rules. The first rule of our constitution is that the Republic is founded on work: therefore no lost place, no decentralization of the activity and no euro received must be badly spent or forgotten. Whirlpool - concludes Panini - must stay here, Naples and the workers do not give up ".

"We are the free and ferocious cry of workers placed on a cross" already used several times during the long dispute, it was the Chilean anthem of struggle, which has become the symbolic song of the battle of the Whirlpool workers, to open the day of mobilization. "We are the antibodies of the country, we resist and fight so that death is not found through us, but care for all workers", said Vincenzo Accurso, Rsu Uilm, speaking from the stage in Piazza Dante on behalf of Whirlpool workers. "The multinational cannot decide for our future, Whirlpool will not get rid of us easily". The garrison of the workers in the factory in via Argine, in progress from 1 November, "will continue 24 hours a day with a permanent assembly to make it clear how important this dispute is, not only for Whirlpool workers but for the whole country. The government do not shy away from the commitments made ".

"On this extraordinary day in which the squares have emptied, the news arrives in Naples that even the Whirlpool plant in Varese is empty, because today's strike, the struggle of Whirlpool demonstrates once again that the working class is not only essential for what it does, but it is essential for the intelligence it can demonstrate "said Barbara Tibaldi, national secretary of Fiom. "The workers of Whirlpool - she added - are stopping because they know that their reasons can serve to change the country and the relationship between politics and multinationals that are robbing us of all industrial skills. So theirs is a struggle for future of themselves and of others ". "And when this is the case, hearts are high and this happens when courage is combined with the intelligence that the working class today, once again, demonstrates."

" Let us remember that Italy is the second manufacturing country in the world and that industrial policies have been made by multinationals for years. This is the case of Whirlpool, which has made an agreement with trade unions and the government, which obviously did not include closure, bought Indesit, but after 5 months from having taken the money, it decides to close Naples. This is not acceptable, and it is not acceptable that the government does not enforce the existing contract. "This was underlined by the general secretary of Fiom Cgil, Francesca Re David, speaking in Piazza dell'Esquilino in Rome on the occasion of the strike of 4 hours of metalworkers

"The high participation in the strike and the large participation today in many squares of metalworkers, in compliance with safety regulations, was an important and clear signal to Federmeccanica: we need to recover the negotiating table and return to confront ourselves with a sense of responsibility on the issue of contract renewal because only with modern bargaining can this difficult phase of necessary transformation be faced in all sectors of the world of work ". CISL Secretary General, Annamaria Furlan. "The problem of renewing the national contract is not at stake. There are dozens of open disputes, starting with the serious situation of Whirlpool, which are now awaiting a response and a decisive intervention from the Government. We do not resign ourselves to the country's industrial decline. Our battle continues and we will always be by the side of the categories and workers to guarantee employment, protect wages, keep companies open, restart the country "