On 4 November, Electrolux and Italian unions reached a preliminary agreement to reduce planned job cuts and keep production running at a factory previously earmarked for closure. Under the agreement, employees are to vote on the deal before it is ratified.
The framework follows months of dispute over the Swedish appliance maker’s plans for its Italian operations. It was signed after lengthy talks involving the company, unions, government ministries and regional authorities.
Unions say the revised plan provides for 918 departures among permanent staff, down from the 1,719 job cuts originally announced in May. Under the agreement, departures would be voluntary or non-opposed and accompanied by financial incentives, rather than compulsory redundancies.
The agreement also provides for more than €100 million of investment in products and production processes in Italy. Electrolux said it would maintain a substantial manufacturing presence and its global research and development centres in the country.
A separate future for Cerreto d’Esi
One of the most closely watched parts of the dispute concerns Cerreto d’Esi, in the Marche region, where the company makes kitchen extractor hoods. Electrolux had planned to close the site, but the unions say production will continue while a new industrial solution is sought.
The UILM union said the arrangement provides continuity of production for the plant’s 149 employees until an investor is found to convert the site to a new industrial use. Electrolux said the agreement set out a process to identify a reindustrialisation project for the site.
That is a commitment to keep the factory working during the search, not a guarantee that its long-term ownership or activity has already been settled. The union’s 918 figure excludes the Cerreto workforce.
Electrolux has described the scope of its plan differently. The company said an incentivised departure scheme covered 1,067 positions over three years. It did not break down that total, so the figures should not be treated as identical counts.
What the agreement offers workers
UILM said the 918 permanent-staff positions comprise 390 production workers, 16 laboratory workers and 512 office staff. The union said local arrangements would determine how applications for voluntary departures are collected, taking account of the skills needed at each site.
Incentives would vary with employees’ circumstances and the timing of their departure. One option offers €95,000 before tax to workers with more than ten years’ service who end their employment by 31 January 2027, the union said. Other amounts apply to different departure dates or retirement situations.
The plan also includes up to six months of employment-placement support. The union said the use of income-support measures would be rotated among both production and office workers, and that sufficient posts would be retained for workers with reduced working capacity.
If departures exceed the identified surplus, the company has committed to replenish staff, giving priority to people who previously worked there on fixed-term or agency contracts, UILM said.
Production and the next decision
UILM said the agreement envisages annual output of about 3.2 million units by the end of the plan in 2029, compared with approximately 3.6 million currently. The FIM-CISL union said washer-dryer production would remain at Porcia, with a commitment to produce at least 140,000 units.
Investment and production at the Susegana, Solaro and Forlì sites are also included in the plan. The company has described the agreement as a way to strengthen its Italian operations in a competitive European market.
The settlement follows months of negotiations and industrial action after the original restructuring proposals. In September, unions called a strike after talks failed to resolve their objections to the proposed job cuts and Cerreto closure.
On 4 November, UILM said workers would hear details of the framework at workplace meetings before a referendum in the coming days. The company confirmed that the agreement would be submitted to employees for ratification.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
