Workers, 1 out of 10 will stay at home Confindustria Canavese “Avoid blockages”

Trade unions are critical of the introduction of the “Let’s keep dialogue alive with those who disagree”

IVREA. Confindustria Canavese estimates that about 10% of employees could be missing from factories as of today. «The goal that we have always set ourselves – underlines the director Cristina Ghringhello – for a year now has been to avoid new blocks to production and economic activities in general. With the variants of the virus that exploded in the previous months worldwide, the need arose to strengthen the vaccination campaign for which in many regions of Italy and the same companies have made their premises available to facilitate the administration of vaccines. Naturally we would have preferred that the burden of the checks were not borne by the employers and we consider a partially positive result the possibility of carrying out random checks (on 30% of employees, ed) and not necessarily massive on the entire company population “.

tampons and privacy

However, there is great uncertainty and confusion among the workers. It is no mystery that the trade unions would have wanted the swabs to be paid by the employers, as an obligation related to safety at work. “There were three options on the table – explains Luca Cortese, secretary of Uil Ivrea and Canavese -: companies pay, the state pays, workers pay. The government has opted for a solution that we know: not for companies, not for the community (a position that I understand), but for those who choose not to get vaccinated. We were for the first option. Among other things, it is not even clear whether a particularly enlightened company can, for privacy, pay tampons to employees. In theory, you shouldn’t know if the certification is from a vaccine or a swab ».

The main problem, however, is the availability of tests. «Contrary to what it seemed at the beginning – underlines Francesco Sciarra of Uiltucs – the numbers of private sector workers who do not even want to swab are small, they can be counted on the fingers. Many, however, are not vaccinated and will take the tests. The main risk, therefore, is to find ourselves facing a situation of scarcity. Then there is the impact on the Ministry’s IT platforms, if they collapse it is a problem. Perhaps the obligation to vaccinate would have been more appropriate: leaving the loopholes leaves the risk of discriminating one worker over another. I also had an episode of an unvaccinated worker, the only one in the service, who called me in tears ».

the world of the factory

In the factory the situation is variegated, composite, patchy. «Overall, the companies are organizing themselves – explains Fabrizio Bellino of Fiom Cgil Ivrea -, I believe that with everyone’s common sense we can go ahead and succeed, as has happened until now. In the meantime, it was a great success for the trade unions to ensure that companies cannot lay off those who do not have a Green pass. We hope that it is really a transitional rule until 31 December and that the situation is resolved ».

Bellino also remembers the situation from which we started. «We had the factories at a standstill – he explains -, with the protocols we managed to ensure that everyone worked and now we live in a moment in which there is a market and we hope it will hold. There are companies that work even seven days a week, which they have hired, we are in a very positive moment ».

Immediately opposed to this type of introduction was the Fim Cisl, which raised the issue of the Green pass in company canteens in August. «We had expressed our opinion not in favor of an uncoordinated introduction – Vito Bianchino brand -. If you do the obligation it is a speech, this is a confused management where a thousand different mechanisms are triggered. There are people who have illogical views, who make it a question of law, who are really afraid because maybe they have had bad experiences with vaccines in the past. There is dialogue between us and the workers and this is our role. Let’s say that there is 20% of unvaccinated people who are part of all categories. Here, however, it is precisely the mechanism that has been badly thought of. Two 48-hour pads do not cover the week. There are people who ask for holidays, there are people with phobias, with fears ».

Bianchino also underlines the importance of the protocols, which led the factories to no longer close after the first lockdown. «The outbreaks – he underlines – did not develop inside. We are convinced that the path of vaccination is the master one, but it was not to be pursued in this way “.