Commentators say that the atmosphere was tense on Thursday last week when Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA and three unions negotiated over Olivetti’s business plan for this year, which aims to reduce the loss-making manufacturer’s workforce by 2,200 jobs and to close a factory in Crema. Representatives from the parties talked separately to Minister of Labour, Franco Marini, and went into conference with Guido Bodrato, Minister of Industry. The discussion is open, according to Marini, but there are stil difficulties to overcome. The problems are serious, but everyone wants to get into the final stretch. There is still work to be done to coalesce the positions, but the discussion appears to me to be quite constructive said Marini. Apparently the biggest problem is the factory in Crema which Olivetti wants to close within two months. It would mean the loss of 700 employees, 500 of which will transfer to a high-technology consortium run by local government, industrial associations and Olivetti. The unions are pressing Olivetti to maintain the Crema facility, but the company has yet comment on the prospects of doing so, something that is worrying local labour representatives.
