In the summer of 2021, the GKN auto parts factory
near the Italian city of Florence was closed, and over 400
workers lost their jobs. Since then, some of them have been
occupying the building—for over four years now. Their goal
is to manufacture solar panels and electric cargo bikes,
thereby converting the factory into an eco-friendly
facility. As a cooperative, they are leading the longest
workers‘ struggle in Italian history and showing that even
in a globalized world, workers can fight back against mass
layoffs and make a difference. They want to reach their
investment goal with the help of
crowdfunding.
Over 400 workers at an Italian
car factory were simply dismissed by email
On July 9,
2021, the 422 workers at the GKN plant (which manufactured
car parts on behalf of Stellantis) in Campi Bisenzio near
Florence received an email. The content: a letter of
dismissal. Two months later, a labor court in Florence ruled
that these dismissals were unlawful because the obligation
to inform the unions had not been fulfilled—in other
words, the unions had not been adequately informed about the
layoffs and should have been involved. Since then, some of
the workers have been occupying the factory where auto parts
were produced. And this despite unpaid wages – some have
side jobs or are getting by on unemployment benefits or
savings.
The eternal works meeting: Four
years of permanent occupation
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
In a kind of permanent
works council, the workers at the GKN factory take turns in
eight-hour shifts. Under the name “Collettivo di
Fabbrica,” they are fighting to keep their jobs and for
the climate-friendly conversion of the factory. Their motto,
“Insorgiamo”
(Let’s rise up!), has its roots in the Italian partisan
movement that fought against
fascism.
“This (the factory) is our
home. We’re not leaving here. And not a single screw will
disappear from here.” – Dario
Salvetti, spokesperson for the
collective.
By occupying the factory,
the collective is protecting its means of production (e.g.,
machines) and preventing them from being relocated abroad,
where production would continue at low cost. This phenomenon
is also familiar in Austria: in 2020, the Styrian electric
motor manufacturer ATB relocated its production to the
low-wage countries of Serbia and Poland. This is exactly
what the factory collective in Italy wants to prevent. It
hopes to resume its work in the factory as a cooperative (ex GKN For Future,
GFF). They want to manage the factory together, make
democratic decisions, and work for social benefit rather
than profit.
Years of delaying tactics – workers
should give up the fight
Currently, ownership of the
factory is divided among three companies controlled by one
person: Francesco Borgomeo, advisor to the Melrose financial
fund. The closure of the plant is primarily attributable to
Melrose. The industrial plan promised by Borgomeo never
materialized. He simply tells the workers that he is not the
investor and that he will introduce them to the new investor
in a few months. For collective spokesperson Salvetti, the
strategy is clear: Borgomeo is speculating with the property
and the workers are being strung along until they give up
the fight. But despite all the adversity, that is not an
option for them. They have their own business plan, which
they are already partially implementing.
Cargo bikes
and solar panels: workers want to convert factory to
climate-friendly production
The collective’s idea
is to convert the factory’s production to be
climate-friendly. In the future, solar panels and electric
cargo bikes will be manufactured there. The plan was
developed in collaboration with scientists in early 2023 and
envisages employment for around 100 people. Organisations
and non-profit banks have already pledged financial
support to the collective. To reach its investment
target of two million euros, the collective has also
launched a crowdfunding campaign.
The collective is
already implementing part of the business plan: workers are
building the first cargo bikes in a small workshop on the
outskirts of Florence. The main business will be
photovoltaics, but there is a lack of space and resources
for this. Due to legal disputes, they cannot use the
premises in the factory.
The fight for protected jobs
throughout Italy
The workers are concerned with preserving
jobs that are well protected by law. This is because
more and more companies in the region are being affected by
closures and relocations to low-wage countries, where
workers sometimes have little legal
protection.
„We were fired in a cruel
manner. But this is not just about our 500 jobs. Jobs across
the country may be at stake. That’s why GKN is of national
and political interest,“ says Dario
Salvetti.
And the workers
are not alone: many members of Tuscan civil society, a
Europe-wide collective of scientists and students, and
Fridays for Future are supporting the fight for an
ecological conversion of the factory and the preservation of
hundreds of jobs.
The site could be made available
for public use thanks to legislation
At the end of
June 2025, there was a dramatic turn of events: the tax
court ruled that the factory site must be cleared. This
would nip any new start for the factory in the bud and pave
the way for real estate speculation. However, legislation
passed in December 2024 gives cause for optimism: it allows
municipalities and local authorities to take over the
approximately 40,000 square metre site in order to make it
available for public use. Specifically, state consortia for
industrial
development are to be created. The state could therefore
buy the site immediately and make it available to start-ups
– such as the collective. In theory, the owner could even
be expropriated. Whether it will come to that is
unclear.
What is a
consortium?
A consortium is a temporary or
project-based association of several independent
actors—such as the state, banks, companies, or
initiatives—who join forces for a specific project that
would be too large or too risky to undertake alone. All
remain legally independent but work together and share
responsibilities and costs.
In the case of GKN, for
example, a consortium would mean that the region, the
municipality, perhaps public banks, and solidarity partners
would jointly take over or finance the factory. The
workers‘ cooperative could then use it and produce there.
The consortium thus creates the structural and financial
conditions—the cooperative organises the actual work and
production.
Climate-friendly production instead of
the arms industry: ex-GKN as a Europe-wide role
model
The collective’s labour dispute has brought
together people within Italy as well as individuals from a
wide range of social movements and academics across Europe.
In a small Basque town, a car manufacturer was closed down,
and over a hundred workers were laid off. In addition to
strikes, the unions – following the example of ex-GKN –
have drawn up a plan for the socio-ecological
restructuring of the company. At the VW plant in Osnabrück,
which plans to stop building cars in 2027, workers are also
mobilising together with people from civil society. Their
goal is to convert the plant to climate-friendly mobility
instead of producing tanks, as planned by the arms
manufacturer Rheinmetall.
Lucas Plan: The idea of
democratic transformation was born 50 years ago
The
factory collective’s labour dispute is reminiscent of the
Lucas Plan, which was published in 1976. The plan arose from
a novel response by workers to mass layoffs. When the Lucas
Aerospace Corporation laid off numerous workers due to
international competition and restructuring, they drew up a
plan for how they wanted to shape the company in the future.
Their idea was to create something that would be of the
greatest possible benefit to society. Among the numerous products
proposed were medical devices such as dialysis machines
and renewable energy sources such as heat pumps.
The
plan was rejected by the government and management. But to
this day, the Lucas Plan remains a model for all those who
are committed to innovation for the good of society rather
than for the high profits of private
individuals.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Common License. The original author/source https://kontrast.at/Sarah
Hammerschmid and link to the English article:
The rights to the content remain with the original
publisher.
