Some 40 employees of Gucci’s design office went on strike for four hours on Monday. They also demonstrated in protest against their transfer from Rome to Milan, fearing “a mass redundancy in disguise”.
Gucci’s decision announced in October to relocate its design office from Rome to Milan triggered an unprecedented strike by some 40 employees on Monday November 27. The ill-received measure would affect 153 of the team’s 219 employees, forcing them to relocate almost 500 kilometers north of the Italian capital by March.
The demonstrators stopped work for four hours and held up banners with slogans such as “Gucci cuts but doesn’t sew” and “At Gucci, redundancy is fashionable”, to express their concern about a possible “mass redundancy in disguise”.
For them, “the style office is the heart of Gucci, where the designers and couturiers work, and where all the collections are born. This is the first strike in its history”, explained Chiara Giannotti, the brand’s union representative.
Downsizing?
The CGIL and UI unions, organizers of a nationwide strike the previous week, maintain that the Kering group is taking advantage of this restructuring to reduce headcount.
According to Chiara Giannotti, “Kering wants to take advantage of this restructuring to reduce the workforce and push out employees who have been offered unsatisfactory conditions or who cannot leave Rome because they have their families and children there”.
For its part, Gucci categorically denies these allegations. The group claims that the transfer, announced in October, “does not involve any reduction in staff” and will be carried out “in full compliance with current regulations”. Its position is that the relocation is intended to foster closer collaboration between the creative office and the strategic functions already based in Milan, thus maximizing the necessary synergies.
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