«The 72-hour strike, which starts tomorrow, by motorway area managers is confirmed. No responses have been received to our requests. No summons have come from the government and we want to discuss our problems. In September 2023 there will be motorway tenders and there is a need for the rules to be established and we have an absolute need to understand what the rules will be ».
This was stated to beraking latest news by Tonino Lucchesi, the president of Faib Confesercenti Autostrade in view of the strike in the motorway service areas which will take place from 10pm tomorrow to 10pm Friday. With the previous governments, explains Lucchesi, «we have put forward a series of proposals. Governments have followed one another without anything happening. For us there is a fundamental problem because survival is at stake: will we still exist or will we disappear?
And there are 500 managements and 10,000 jobs at stake, observes the president of Faib Autostrade. «As a system – underlines Lucchesi – we have lost three quarters of the supplies. We proposed a rationalization, cutting a hundred plants in exchange for a fair compensation for the operators, but the previous government told us that it would not close any plants. This is a decision in favor of Autostrade which, regardless of whether we disburse it or not, will continue to collect its royalties».
Instead, says the president of Faib Confesercenti, «by reducing the service areas by 10%, it could also be possible to reduce prices. Before 1998 Autostrade took 4-5% of gross turnover from catering and supplies, today it is 30-35%». Currently, he observes, “30% of the plants are controlled by the catering companies and they will be the ones that will remain open during the strike”.