More and more layoffs in derogation, it is the black crisis of the Sardinian metallurgical industry

Sardinian industry sinks. It is from heavy factories that almost all of the hours of redundancy payments requested for workers on the island in 2023, from January to September, come. Compared to the same period last year, the demand for social safety nets increased from 1,186 hours to 1,804, equal to an increase of 34.25 percent.

Employment support is essentially divided into two measures: one is the redundancy fund, divided into three different types and always paid by INPS to compensate, in whole or in part, the salary cuts decided by companies in difficulty; the other lifeline is given by the solidarity funds, which are used by companies excluded from the redundancy fund and active in sectors such as crafts, the tertiary sector, navigation, fishing, entertainment and ports.

At least in Sardinia we travel almost one way: the redundancy fund continues to reign supreme with 3,299 hours out of the 3,412 that made up the island's social safety net. The numbers are contained in the Bank of Italy report which this month published the update of the "Regional Economies" series, through which analysts photograph, for the second time in the year, the state of health of a specific geographical area. This new survey has also allowed us to close the circle on the request for social protections that is accompanying the end of 2023.

As mentioned, it is the industry that adds to the death of pay slips converted into INPS support. Worst of all within the sector are the metallurgy workers who from January to September tried to make ends meet by obtaining 1,189 hours of layoffs. They are equivalent to 65.9 percent of the entire sector which used 1,804 hours in the first nine months of the year. Broadening our gaze to the rest of the industry, although far from metallurgy, there are the 319 hours granted to workers employed in non-metallic mining activities. This is followed, with 108 hours, by the social safety nets assigned to chemicals, petrochemicals, rubber and plastics.

Outside of industry, the most struggling sector in 2023 was trade: from January to September it used 666 hours, just above the 566 achieved by construction workers. For transport workers, 263 hours are granted.

Going into the detail of the three different types of redundancy fund, the path of protection opens with the Cigo, or the ordinary measure. It is the first step, reformed with legislative decree 148 of 2015. The Cigo is granted for a maximum of twelve months to all workers, including managers. The rationale is to do as much as possible in the shortest time. With the Cigo, in fact, wages are transferred to the State not only in cases where the crisis is old: the ordinary redundancy fund is also granted after an external and unpredictable event such as an earthquake, which has put company activities in difficulty. This is a case that comes alongside the most common economic situation, when the use of the Cigo becomes a breath of fresh air to allow a company to put its accounts in order and start restructuring.

Too many times, however, the Cigo is only the prelude to a long Via Crucis on the road to welfare. With increasing frequency, once the twelve months of ordinary subsidy have ended, we move on to the Cigs, the extraordinary redundancy fund, which on paper must last a further twenty-four months, extendable to thirty-six. However, it is also possible to obtain very long extensions which have made history: even in Sardinia there has been no shortage of exceptional cases of CIGS lasting decades.

The arrival of the extraordinary redundancy fund is therefore the sign of a crisis that has been going on for some time and not of a passing difficulty. This is a trait that characterizes the industry in Sardinia: in 2023, compared to the 2,415 hours of Cigs granted, 1,111 went to support metallurgy. We are talking about 46 percent. However, it should be noted that this number of hours also includes the Cigd, which is the third type of redundancy fund: it is defined in derogation and has a marginal impact, given that it is used only in emergency cases not foreseen in the Cigo. Its duration is three months.

To understand the order of magnitude of the crisis affecting the Sardinian metallurgical industry sector, the Bank of Italy data can also be analyzed from a second point of observation: the hours of ordinary redundancy granted by the INPS stopped at 78, out of the 1,111 total. They are equivalent to 7.02 percent. It means that almost all of the social safety nets granted by the INPS to Sardinian metallurgy workers are an extension.

Finally, the solidarity funds: on the island, from January to September 2023, their use was marginal. It is a sort of deposit to which all workers contribute on a monthly basis. A precise rate is taken directly from your paycheck. It normally varies from 0.17% to 0.50 of the salary, with an intermediate ordinary contribution of 0.33.

This year, the use of solidarity funds covered just 113 hours, accounting for 3.31 percent of the regional social safety net. Such a limited use of this welfare measure has an explanation and is linked to the "progressive return from the pandemic emergency", it is written in the Bank of Italy report.