The Finnish multinational Wärtsilä changes strategy on the closure of the Trieste site of San Dorligo della Valle, with 451 redundancies, announced last summer, which ended up at the center of the political debate of the last elections and arrived in court.
The first most visible step in the change of strategy is the arrival of a new CEO and president for Italy, Michele Cafagna. The second concerns the decision not to appeal against the order of the Trieste Labor Court of last September 23, which ordered to stop the procedure for the closure of the production activity of the Trieste plant, which began on July 14.
With the appointment of Cafagna, the multinational has explained that it wants to strengthen the Italian leadership team “to take the next step towards the future”. Certainly the last few months have been very complex. The procedure for closing the production line of large engines in Trieste and relocation to Vaasa, Finland, for the multinational turned out to be more complicated than expected, after a clear stance against the decision in recent months. on the part of politics with the Minister of Economic Development, Giancarlo Giorgetti (Lega), who joined forces with that of Labor Andrea Orlando (Pd) and with the Governor of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga (Lega). Not only. In recent days, the multinational has also collected a decree from the labor judge of the Trieste court for anti-union behavior, with compensation of 50 thousand euros to each of the unions (Fiom, Fim and Uilm) that presented it and revocation of the procedure. The Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, on the other hand, withdrew its urgent appeal pursuant to Article 700 against the closure procedure.
The choice of the new guide for Italy fell on a manager like Cafagna who knows the group very well, where he has been working for over 20 years, with different and growing responsibilities both in the business and in the support functions at a global level. Right from the start, the manager underlined the importance of shared choices and dialogue. A few days after he took office, he received the announcement that he did not want to appeal against the decree of the Court of Trieste. The next steps, according to what the company explains in a note, “will be taken after examining the situation with trade unions, institutions and other key stakeholders, with the new president and CEO of Wärtsilä Italia, Michele Cafagna, at the forefront. . «Now we really want to concentrate on starting discussions with all our main stakeholders and moving forward in a collaborative way – explains Cafagna -. We can only build a common understanding by talking together. There is no doubt that we can achieve better results when we all work towards a common goal ». The social partners are awaiting a convocation.