Perhaps the Baritech dispute, ex Osram, with its 115 workers on layoffs, until 31 December, and in garrison, for many days, in front of the Modugno plant, at the gates of the regional capital. The restricted offer of the Lombard textile group is expected in the next few hours – a name still top secret – interested in taking over the company branch with all its workers, the industrial warehouse and the 4 non-woven fabric production lines, active until last December when the last order worked in Baritech was completed for the supply of meltblown, the non-woven fabric used to make surgical masks.
Due Diligence
Everything is linked to the positive conclusion, or otherwise, of the due diligence launched on Wednesday, before the regional task force for employment, by the top management of Baritech and by the representatives of the potential buyer interested in the Bari plant to continue producing tnt, but no longer for surgical masks, but for other uses (car interiors, diapers, cloths, absorbent tissues, etc.). If the offer is formalized today and the workers return to work, the condition set by Conserva Logistic would also be fulfilled, the Bari-based company which would return to the new buyer the industrial warehouse it had acquired from Baritech srl, without also taking over the employed workers, recovering – so it was declared – the only 410,000 euros already paid to the srl during the purchase negotiation and equal to 10% of the total cost defined (4.1 million).
The role of the Region
In the dispute, the region also intends to intervene by co-financing the reindustrialization project using a specific regional measure, with resources that could be equal to 40% of the total value of the operation. These would be non-repayable resources whose percentage could still grow, depending on the size and characteristics of the buyer. The region would then also intervene with other funds to encourage the requalification of workers. “The region – explains the head of the task force for employment, Leo Caroli – will do its part to the end by co-financing both the reindustrialization and the requalification of workers” . For the workers – who complain about too many unfulfilled promises of industrial recovery projects – and the unions, today is a day of “vigilant” waiting. “We are confident even if – warns Filippo Caldara, general secretary of Ugl-Chemici di Bari – we have to see the signature of the workers on permanent contracts to be totally certain that everything went well, including the intervention of the region with its resources fund lost”. However, speed is needed: on December 31st the social safety nets will cease with the continuation of collective redundancies.