Comazzo. Four "Mister X" to keep hoping. There would be many companies competing against each other which, by purchasing the Schering Plough pharmaceutical plant in Comazzo, would save the jobs of the 130 employees who are employed there today, and whose announced dismissal for now is in fact "frozen". This was announced by the ownership of the company, the American multinational Merck: the same company that in recent months had announced the closure of the site where ointments and creams are produced by 2012, but which yesterday at the ministerial table with the trade unions and the Province confirmed the existence of four entrepreneurial groups intending to take over the Comazzo plant.
The buyers would all be Italian, active in the chemical, pharmaceutical or cosmetic sectors. Their names remain "top secret", but should be revealed by the middle of next month: including that of the company which, more than any other, would offer the greatest guarantees on maintaining current employment levels. And if the industrial plans of the potential new owners would not yet be a reality, the unions can already celebrate a first "conquest": for now, neither collective dismissal procedures nor the thirty or so mobility scheduled for January will start. «That of Comazzo, among the Italian offices of the multinational, seemed the most desperate situation, and instead with the four proposals that are taking shape it has turned into a possible sale of the site with attached workers – comments Francesco Cisarri of the CGIL-. In the end, we'll stall with a little layoffs, but any social plans, such as incentives and good salaries for someone, would be evaluated later. Now we will start again with the local tables with Assolombarda, because we need to understand how many workers potential buyers offer guarantees for. But I think a good job is being done: and having kept the ministerial table open as a synthesis of the local ones is important".
The results of the Roman table will be illustrated to the workers of Comazzo this morning in the meeting. And Cisarri won't be the only one to express satisfaction. «Every time we come to Rome it seems that there is the funeral of Comazzo and instead all in all they have reiterated the willingness of four companies to take over the plant - comments Giampiero Bernazzani of the CISL -. They wanted to start with mobility for 30 employees from January, but they backtracked». «It went better than the day before let us think – echoes Francesco Montinaro of the Uil -. We have established that at present there is no redundant staff: now we hope that the table will open free of any type of procedure, and that people will reason freely and calmly to keep the employment level high. In short, we see something: if the company speeds up the negotiations we will be able to talk about an industrial plan».
Claudio Pedrazzini, vice president with responsibility for the production activities of the Province
