MILAN Unanimous satisfaction. The presidents of Federchimica and Farmindustria comment very positively on the new collective agreement officially signed yesterday. "This contract is a strong and concrete signal, especially at a time like this", comments Cesare Puccioni, president of Federchimica, who sees in the renewal of the pharmaceutical chemistry contract something exemplifying "the commitment of people of good will who have expressed a common interest in preparing something useful for employability and flexibility".
A commonality of purpose is a rare commodity at a time like this, but one which, according to the number one in the Italian chemical industry, delivers "to the corporate social partners tools that could prove to be extremely useful and not only in this difficult phase". Ultimately, according to Puccioni, «a context that required it» was followed by «a further demonstration of the ability of our industrial relations to perform its role in the best possible way». An ability "that led my predecessor Squinzi to close six contracts without strike hours". And in any case central to Puccioni is the fact that «the boost to productivity and flexibility guaranteed by this new contract are the real levers for the growth of competitiveness».
To the satisfaction of a "pioneer contract that sets the conditions for recovering productivity indices that can help make companies more competitive", the number one of Farmindustria, Massimo Scaccabarozzi, also adds a j'accuse against the Monti government and "the continuous penalizing legislative interventions". In recent months, the pharmaceutical industry has not failed to protest against spending containment measures that have specifically affected the sector. «The spending review – says Scaccabarozzi – has created a protected market which is severely penalizing the pharmaceutical industry». The reference is to the rule which provides for prescriptions with active ingredients "from which companies that produce mostly outside Italy are benefiting". On the other hand, on Italian pharmaceuticals, "the measure had a visible impact, with a drop in the value of production and an increase in imports".
In short, concludes Scaccabarozzi, «the hope is that the next government will intervene. Also because the workers protested with us, aware that competitiveness is a value not to be lost, in a pharmaceutical company, the Italian one, which is second only to Germany for production in Europe».
