Vigevano: Moorish workers, meeting in the Region, last hope to avoid the 59 layoffs

For the 59 Moreschi workers, fate now seems sealed because, in the plan of the new owners of the historic shoe factory brand, the luxury shoes from Vigevano will be made in highly specialized laboratories in Tuscany and Veneto. However, hopes come from a meeting scheduled in the Region for next week.

Moreschi, avoid 59 dismissals

The hope of the employees of Moreschi of Vigevano it’s hanging by a thread. A encounter scheduled for next week in Region could change their destiny. If this attempt at mediation with the property fails, 59 layoffs loom at the beginning of Mayaffecting the last workers still active in the plant via Cararola.

The agreement promises to be a difficult undertaking, as the unions have reiterated theirs determination not to sign any agreement until they come regularized salary arrears and resolved outstanding issues for workers who left the company last summer.

The Region is working to facilitate an agreement between the parties, but at the moment the distances still seem insurmountable. During last week’s hearing before the Region’s Productive Activities Commission, he also participated Guido Scalfithe representative of the Swiss fund Hurleys, current owner of Moreschi.

“Many points remain to be clarified”

“The delegate of the fund”, commented the regional councilor of the Democratic Party, Roberta Vallacchi, also present at the commission meeting, “she informed us that production takes place in the Marche, but there are still many unresolved issues, with the future of the plant in Vigevano at the top. It is inconceivable that, despite the crisis that began in 2017 and the acquisition of the fund in 2020, only now have the local authorities realized the seriousness of the situation.”

“On the Moreschi di Vigevano affair, beyond all the relevant considerations, there is a point that leaves you perplexed: if the crisis appeared around 2017, if the Hurleys fund took over in 2020 in full difficulty, why do the League and the centre-right that govern Vigevano and Lombardy only now realize that a typically Lombard production has been lost?”,

“Now that we are collapsing they wake up, but the issue needed to be addressed well beforehanda, when the signs of a sort of progressive dismantling were already there. The first hearing in the Commission was held in September 2021 and at the time even a councilor from the League territory asked for it. Only two years later, in 2023, an agreement was signed between the parties in which the dismissal of 27 workers was accepted with the fund’s commitment to maintaining production in Vigevano and therefore to keeping the other employees without further dismissals. Instead, today’s hearing was held to address the request to dismiss a further 59 workers out of the current 80 to permanently close the production line”, insists Vallacchi.

“The representative of the Hurleys Scalfi fund told us, in fact, that production takes place in the Marche, but many points remain to be clarified, first of all what will happen to Moreschi in Vigevano. We wonder why investments have not been made in new technologies in the production lines, in order to guarantee greater efficiency and productivity, and at the same time training has not been given to employees”, concludes the Pd councilor.

“Necessary step to relaunch the brand”

According to Scalfi, there are layoffs a necessary step to relaunch the brand. The decision to transfer production from the historic Vigevano site to Tuscany and Veneto is justified by the idea that the previous production model is now obsolete. The company, according to the representative of the Swiss fund Hurleys, it must adapt to market changes, embracing a more flexible and sustainable structure.

However, the move raises questions about what will actually change regarding production in Vigevano. Again according to what Scalfi declared, the Moreschi brand will be preservedbut with a new offer oriented towards one artisanal and sustainable production. The “brain” of the company will however remain in Vigevano, like the warehouse and logistics activities.

While union and legal negotiations are ongoing, it remains however the fate of the employees and the compensation of back wages are uncertain. The meeting in the Region scheduled for next week could lead to significant developments, but uncertainties persist.