Hundreds of flags flew in Piazza Palazzo, in front of the Prefecture in Cagliari, for the national call center strike called by SLC CGIL, FISTEL CISL, and UILFPC UIL.
Workers have been on lockdown all day, after months of unanswered demands. Unions are denouncing a sector in "full emergency": declining volumes, offshoring, contract dumping, and the unregulated introduction of artificial intelligence are putting thousands of jobs in Italy at risk.
The national picture speaks of an unprecedented crisis. Since June, social safety net agreements have been signed for over 4,000 employees. Konecta R and Callmat, employing approximately 1,500 people in Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily, are at risk of closure. Another 1,500 redundancies are expected by the end of the year at Konecta Italia, including the Cagliari and Olbia offices, and System House, plus another 5,000 at other customer care companies.
"Today the dispute affects 40,000 workers in Italy and 2,000 in Sardinia," recalled Omar Marras , deputy general secretary of Fistel Cisl Sardinia, speaking of workers "defined as essential" during the Covid emergency. The causes are three: offshoring, lowest-price tenders, and ungoverned artificial intelligence.
According to Alessandro Randaccio , regional secretary of the SLC-CGIL, approximately 12,000 jobs are at risk in Italy, 600 in Sardinia. "The jobs are there; they just need to be rebuilt and reformulated," he stated. The sector, he added, is "scattered like a mosaic" and struggling to achieve critical mass, but "it is no less valuable" than Ilva and Electrolux. Marianna Stara , secretary of the UILFPC Sardinia, called for specific safety nets, retraining, and a greater sense of corporate social responsibility.
Mayor Massimo Zedda also took to the streets : "There was always a real person behind that cable. We need to take preventative action, and the City Council is already doing so." Regional Council President Piero Comandini emphasized that these are multinationals "passing the costs on to the weakest link," and assured: "The Regional Council will do its part."