The Hon. Rosa Menga, always very attentive and close to the problems of scientific representatives, together with the Hon. Flora Frate, presented a question for immediate response in the Labor Commission to the Minister of Labor and Social Policies in relation to the layoffs of ISF in Mylan and Takeda.
In his response, the Minister states that the "choices proposed by these companies appear unreasonable with respect to the economic trend of a sector, the pharmaceutical sector, which has not been penalized by the pandemic crisis". He ensured "the adoption of every suitable intervention in order to protect the workers of the pharmaceutical companies mentioned".
Below is the Minister's question and response.
To the Minister of Labor and Social Policies - To know - given that:
The long hours of negotiation between the social partners and the headed Ministry on overcoming the redundancy block were of little or no use;
the signed notice would have committed the companies to exhaust the use of the social safety nets that the legislation in force and the newly approved decree law 73/2021, the so-called "Supports - BIS” provide as an alternative to the termination of employment relationships, with a view to promoting and strengthening social dialogue as an indispensable tool for managing and overcoming serious periods of crisis such as the one experienced due to the pandemic;
a protection which, however, did not concern the 52 Pharmaceutical Representatives (DPS) reached on 5 July last by the communication of the start of the collective dismissal procedure by Takeda Italia SpA, as well as the 32 DPS recipients of a similar communication dated 6 last July, signed by the company Mylan Italia Srl which announces the activation of a similar procedure;
the reasons underlying the measures in question reside in the need expressed by the companies in question to implement a radical organizational reorganization justified, in their opinion, both by a change in the methods of management and promotion of the products on the market, and in the execution of the work itself due to the spreading of the pandemic;
but this does not correspond to reality, in fact, the pharmaceutical supply chain has recorded data in total contrast with the negative trend of the economy as a whole, demonstrating that the pharmaceutical sector, faced with the challenge of Covid-19, has managed to grow, feeling less others of the current recession so much that it could become one of the driving sectors of Italy's post-pandemic recovery;
all the more reason, the category of ISF cannot pay such a high price due to the absence of a single contractual framework, which places these professionals employed by the scientific service of the company to which they belong, a service which, as envisaged by art . 126 of Legislative Decree no. 219/2006, is mandatory for each company that holds the AIC of medicinal products and has nothing to do with the marketing sector and therefore with the logic of profit -:
whether the Minister questioned is aware of the facts set out in the introduction and, consequently, whether he intends to set up a corporate crisis table, at the head of the Ministry, which sees the direct involvement of the aforementioned pharmaceutical companies in order to guarantee effective protection for the category of drug sales representatives and avoid the previously announced collective redundancies.
The answer:
As regards the facts highlighted by the questioner, the Lombardy Region reports that on 6 July 2021 the Mylan Italia Srl company., based in Milan, has effectively communicated the opening of a collective dismissal procedure for 32 employees, structurally made redundant, belonging to the external network that operates throughout the national territory and assigned, from an administrative point of view, to the Milan office .
In initiating the procedure, the company - the Lombardy Region reports again - declared, in summary, that the Company is involved in an organizational transformation project requested by the Group, which has revealed the need to make the structure more efficient, also through a reorganization of the divisions which appear to be inadequately sized and which require a more rational structure which will guarantee the same coverage and capacity to penetrate the market.
With reference to the company Takeda Italy Spa., the same Lombardy region communicated that, on 5 July 2021, the company started a collective dismissal procedure for 52 redundant workers at the Rome office. These are scientific representatives who operate in several regions.
Please note that the company is a leading global biopharmaceutical company, working with healthcare professionals and institutions to enable access to innovative medicines, with approximately 50,000 employees and a presence in more than 80 countries. In Italy it has its registered office in Rome and factories in Pisa and Rieti for Plasma processing.
The choices proposed by these companies therefore appear - as highlighted by the honorable questions - unreasonable with respect to the economic trend of a sector, the pharmaceutical sector, which has not been penalized in any way by the pandemic crisis and which is undoubtedly one of the driving sectors of the economic recovery.
It should also be noted that the Government has launched multiple measures in favor of this sector, due to its strategic nature, which emerged very clearly during the health emergency.
I recall that a table has been set up at the Ministry of Economic Development to explore the issue of vaccine production. Furthermore, the assessment of Italy's interest in participating in an IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) dedicated to the Health sector within the European Union is underway. The aim is to equip the European pharmaceutical industry with resources for research and development of vaccines, drugs and innovative devices in order to avoid the supply problems in the future, which have occurred with the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
In addition, the decree-law n. 73 of 2021, the so-called Sostegni bis, currently being converted, provides for measures to support the sector, aimed at strengthening research, development and industrial reconversion of the biomedical sector towards the production of innovative drugs and vaccines to deal with emerging pathologies at a national level .
In particular, alongside these incentive measures, an important effort was made to continue to support - through access to wage integration treatments - the employment levels of companies, in view of a sustained recovery of the economic cycle and in conjunction with the massive investments by the PNRR.
In conclusion, I consider it necessary to guarantee the Ministry's commitment to monitor the evolution of the dismissal procedures currently in progress, ensuring the adoption of any suitable intervention in order to protect the workers of the pharmaceutical companies mentioned.
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