“Time is over”. Thus the trade union representatives and Pernigotti workers are preparing for the permanent assembly in the Novi Ligure plant, in the province of Alessandria, proclaimed starting from the first shift on 9 March. “The tension is high and the employees, the RSU and the trade unions are demanding concrete answers on the future of the Novese chocolate factory from Turkish property and also from the institutions,” they wrote in a press release. Those answers, workers and union representatives reiterate, which have not yet arrived.
A few days ago there was a Municipal Council opened in Novi Ligure dedicated to the Pernigotti emergency, followed by a first assembly of workers who now with the trade union representatives have decided to up the ante. “We have the weeks numbered – says Raffaele Benedetto Flai CGIL – and the clear feeling that no one wants to call us shortly, despite the request made to the Ministry of Development and the Prefect”.
The commitment of the Mise, Benedetto recalls, was to convene representatives of the workers and property of Pernigotti – the Turkish Tokzov family – by January. But nothing has moved and the layoffs for employees expire in June. “We want to meet the owners to find out if they are there and at what point are the negotiations they talked about.”
A series of indiscretions in recent days spoke of contacts with Jp Morgan – the Asset Management company – and Walcor, a Cremonese company in the sector in the relaunch phase thanks to the intervention of the American investor. There was no confirmation of the news from the offices of the financial group. Workers and trade unions fear that the story of the search for an industrial partner for Pernigotti, carried on for months by the owners, is a way to buy time. And that the will of the owners is to close the factory forever and keep the brand.
In the meantime, the Novi Ligure chocolate factory is almost at a standstill. In the last two days between 5 and 10 people out of the 70 employees of the plant were at work.The only active production is the cremini line while all supplies for last Christmas and next Easter are in fact lost.