Emilceramica: unanimous agreement reached

After four months of negotiations, the long and difficult Emilceramica dispute has finally come to a satisfactory conclusion for all parties involved. On 2 April, the owners, the unions and the regional government jointly signed an agreement that involves use of the extraordinary wages guarantee fund for 24-36 months for all 711 employees, diversified according to the production unit and established procedures. The agreement also involves shutting down the production departments at the Solignano facility (excluding the spray dryer) and taking the 116 employees off the available-to-work list for redeployment to other production sites. For this purpose, incentives are provided for workers who agree to be laid off and redeployed at companies allied to Emilceramica (including in the Ravenna area), while workers who are close to retirement will be given the option of early retirement to allow for the creation of new jobs.

Emilceramica’s chairman Villiam Tioli stressed the company’s firm intention to look to the future (as demonstrated by the approximately 40 million euro invested by the group over the last 3 years), while noting that for the present it is essential to cut output volumes in order to rapidly redress the balance between demand and supply.