Timken workers, who announced the closure of the Villa Carcina plant in mid-July, will enter into a project by Confindustria Brescia to seek solutions to protect the plant’s employees and the local economy. As the vice president Roberto Zini says, “we have always been there, also from the point of view of social responsibility. This is a moment in which it is difficult to find qualified personnel in mechanics and there are about twenty companies that have reported ongoing research to us. The first nine workers have already been placed ». The initiative started once the institutional process with the social and institutional partners was over, in which the multinational, which produces engineered bearings and products for power transmission, confirmed its closure.
The president of the Brescia industrialists, Franco Gussalli Beretta, explains that «work is our center of attention. The goal is to ensure a professional future for these workers and a new life at the production site. Confindustria Brescia wants to be a connecting platform to find solutions and we must create a system to be close to the territory in crisis management ». The identified strategy is developed along two lines: first of all the relocation of workers to other industrial realities in the area and then the search for a buyer of the production site which is located in an area with high industrial capacity, such as Val Trompia, and has a covered area of about 17 thousand square meters out of a total of 65 thousand meters.
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As for the workers, most of them are highly qualified in the field of mechanics, one of the most requested specializations in the Brescia area which, overall, is experiencing an important recovery phase. As Beretta himself confirms, “we are facing a corporate crisis that is the result of the decision of an international group alone, and for this reason I am confident in a positive solution to the matter”. However, the relocation of workers, concludes Beretta, must “be accompanied by active training and adaptation policies”. To positively resolve the affair, the support of the Lombardy Region is also counted on, which has launched financing projects for training plans to relocate workers. The regional councilors for Training and Work Melania Rizzoli and for Economic Development Guido Guidesi say that “the Lombardy Region confirms its full willingness to deploy all the functional tools for the relocation of Timken company workers and for the continuity of the production site”. With regard to the specific active policy measures, “we will implement the new tools activated in recent months, such as the ‘Training to hire’ initiative as well as the consolidated system of ‘skills’ and network actions, which could be particularly useful in this juncture. We expect – continue the two regional councilors – that the current ownership respects the commitments it has announced on the relocation plan ». From the American multinational they say «they welcome the commitment of Confindustria Brescia to assist us in the search for solutions to protect all the employees of the plant and the local economy in the face of the decision to close the Villa Carcina plant. We are committed to continuing to work with all local actors and institutions also to encourage the reconversion of the site by finding the right operator who introduces a sustainable business and helps to support local employment “.