Crotone – The mayor of Catanzaro Nicola Fiorita also participated in the municipal council convened in Crotone to discuss the Abraham affair, invited by the mayor of the Pythagorean capital Vincenzo Voce.
“There are two reasons that pushed me to accept the invitation – he said in his speech -. The first is that I fully feel the responsibility of being the mayor of the regional capital city which is not a generic and useless plume, but a role that imposes an overall vision of the problems, beyond territorial barriers. The Mayor of the capital cannot look the other waybut has the duty to lend a hand to its sister cities.
Last Saturday I was at Villa San Giovanni to demonstrate against a work that I believe is not useful to Calabria, because it takes away important resources, and today I am in sister company Crotone, alongside the municipal administration, the unions and above all the workers who are fighting a difficult and delicate battle.
The second reason is that Abramo Customer Care is a technology company which was born from a historic entrepreneurial group from Catanzaro and, therefore, the horizons of this crisis are broadening and involving three provinces. I must tell you straight away that I have come not to express generic solidarity, which is obvious and which I do in any case on behalf of my entire Administration and the entire City, but to express my thoughts without frills. Only in this way will I be able to attempt to make a concrete contribution to the discussion.
I see The Abramo Customer crisis is not an isolated case in Italy, but within a broader crisis in the call center sector which has affected multiple cities and multiple regions, from Piedmont to Lazio and Sicily. It is a crisis which, as I see it, is destined to become increasingly acute not only due to the delocalisation of orders, but above all due to the tumultuous technological innovations which increasingly reduce the human contribution.
Artificial intelligence is proving to be a system that is increasingly popular with users and is already being used as a “virtual agent” to cover contact center shifts. This is a bit like what happened to banks, which with the introduction of online platforms drastically reduced staff in branches. I made this reasoning because I fear that this dispute, if not correctly addressed, will produce further uncertainty, instability, precariousness and a dark future for workers.
And here is the gist of my reasoning. On this occasion, the Calabria Region must show the face of an “entrepreneur”, not limiting itself to the action, although necessary, of stimulus towards the Government to obtain extensions of contracts of a few months or other forms of assistance. We sincerely thank President Occhiuto for what has been done so far, and I am sure that he too will be thinking about opening a new phase.
If, as everyone recognizes, Abramo Customer’s workers constitute a great professional asset, also in relation to the development of new technologies, the Region – with the legislative mechanisms that are deemed most useful and obviously in conjunction with the Government and Parliament – must come up with a great plan to use these resources in strategic sectors where there is a need to increase efficiency and establish closer contact with users.
And I give names and surnames. I am thinking of healthcare where we will increasingly need telematic and technological contacts with users, both to provide information, to access services, and for prevention and awareness campaigns. I am thinking of Civil Protection which, in the face of extreme events, will increasingly be central to the lives of citizens who will need to be promptly informed. I am thinking of the digitalisation project of the Calabria Regionon which something has already been done, or even to library systems.
And why not, a large contact center dedicated to tourism capable of providing clear and inviting answers to the thousands of people who intend to visit our Region. Who better than Abramo Customer’s workers could, through rapid reconversion, carry out these precious tasks?
Let us find a way to draw on this great wealth of professionalism. And if this great plan were to encounter insurmountable legislative and bureaucratic obstacles, maybe the Calabria Region will be able to evaluate the opportunity to become a potential large “client” of the company capable of taking over from Abramo Customer. This could be a useful element to facilitate the transition to a structured company, not limiting itself to ongoing orders, but also extending to regional public administration.
In compliance with the laws and market rules, the Region could consider putting this potential package of orders on the table.
I expressed my thoughts and my vision. I’m just saying to all of you: let’s not settle for stopgap solutions, for an extension of this agony by a few months or a few weeks, but let’s all aim together for a systemic solution that combines the sacrosanct right to work with the need to strengthen public administration in our region. Whatever path you choose, know that we are there and will be there.”
