A winning example is in the same province, about fifty kilometers away: Pirinoli, the “paper mill of miracles”. Bought by the workers to avoid bankruptcy, it makes profits, has conquered the market and has an ambitious investment plan. Now it’s the turn of Oms Sordella di Marene, a metalworking company with 60 years of history, which is going through a difficult time. More than the crisis, in this case a complex generational transition has an impact. And the risk for employees would have been to move to another industrial group without certainty about maintaining jobs and orders, which instead exist and are solid.
«I was left alone, before Covid my brother passed away and I have no family members interested in continuing the business. Now I have difficulty managing everything and I would like to give continuity to the history of my company, which has always worked well. Some time ago a large group tried to buy us, but I didn’t accept” says the owner, Guido Sordella. There are currently around twenty employees in the company, ten years ago there were many more. But then the processes changed and little by little this company also tried to transform itself. «Since 1964 we have been focused on creating tailor-made hydraulic cylinders for customers who need very high reliability for large flow rates and long lengths», explains Sordella again. In recent times he has also received other offers, including one from a foreign fund, «but I didn’t accept. Not because it wasn’t appropriate but because I want to guarantee continuity. I admit that there are difficulties, the large increase in the costs of raw materials and gas has created problems for us but if I had wanted to close and send everyone home, I would have done it immediately after Covid”.
From these evaluations – and from the example of Pirinoli – the idea of attempting an internal path was born, with employees forming a cooperative and acquiring the company they work for. A case of workers buyout, as they technically say. A long and complex road, which has not yet been fully realized but which has become a concrete possibility thanks to the commitment of about ten workers. «In recent months – they write in a letter in which they explain their program – we have addressed the issue of the generational transition, which cannot be postponed any further, given the age of the current ownership and the lack of direct heirs interested in continuing the entrepreneurial activity . We thus began a path of reflection and analysis, which led us to identify the solution that allows us to move from employees to entrepreneurs within the company reality that we know thoroughly, preserving our skills and know-how acquired in many years of activity.”
But why did they decide to do it? «We considered the workers buyout in cooperative form the best option for the future, because it represents what we are: a group of workers who, thanks to their skills, guarantee the continuity of production activity, as our customers have always known , and at the same time a generational change, which lays the foundations for a new season of growth for a significant entrepreneurial reality in the area”. Therefore «with the support of the 2i3T business incubator, established by the University of Turin together with institutional partners such as the Metropolitan City of Turin, the Links Foundation and the Piedmont Region, we drew up a business plan which was presented and judged solid by the funds mutual funds of CFI and Coopfond, who approve the project and who are ready to support us, thanks to the reference regulations that incentivize and support the creation of cooperative workers buyouts”.
At its core is the belief that «we know better than any other entity the potential that the company can express and for this reason we have decided to invest in ourselves, continuing in the wake of a 60-year history of the company. We are certain that the WBO Sordella will receive the support of the regional and provincial institutions, which have already shown us their closeness.” And to reassure the supplied companies they assure: «The loyal customers of Oms Sordella will find in the new entrepreneurial guise the same professionalism and passion in doing our work, which we have always put at their service».
In the next few days there will be a meeting with the curator and the workers’ proposal will be made official. Subsequently, if it is considered positively, the process will be concluded and the new ownership will be the workers’ cooperative. A path also guided by Legacoop. «In this difficult period, the demographic issue is becoming complex. There are more and more small and medium-sized business owners who are aging and have no family members to leave the business to. The workers buyout and the cooperative model can become examples to follow” explains Legacoop president Dimitri Buzio. The Cuneo area is an area that is experiencing, more than others, problematic generational transitions. «The WBO is not a solution that can be adopted in all cases, special conditions are needed such as the trust of workers and their involvement in decision-making processes, as well as an agreement with the unions. But we are convinced that it is a possibility that can be used more and more in the future. An alternative model, but one that we have demonstrated can work”, adds Buzio.
In recent days, Legacoop has also prepared a booklet (with the patronage of Uniocamere, the Piedmont Region and the Turin Association of Accountants) to explain how it is done. «It is an opportunity to protect jobs and professional skills in those cases where corporate crises or the absence of generational turnover put them at risk. The Wbo – underlines the president of Legacoop – are a model of enterprise regenerated by the workers themselves who, by joining forces, as is typical of the cooperative spirit, become entrepreneurs in all respects”. And he concludes: «With a survival rate higher than that of traditional companies, regenerated companies have proven to be a valid tool for transforming unemployment benefits or severance pay into an incentive for development, creating new jobs».