In quiet Crotone, an economic and social storm is preparing to upset the lives of over a thousand people. The workers of “Abramo customer care”, a company operating in the call center sector, find themselves face to face with a concrete threat: the termination of employment. June 30th will mark a critical date for 500 employees of the Crotone headquarters, to which are added another 500 colleagues from Cosenza and Catanzaro.
The crux of the crisis rests on the decision of TIM, an important customer, not to renew the contract with the company. Compounding the situation, “Abramo” is entangled in a web of financial complications that have led to its extraordinary administration. This mix of factors leaves little room for optimism among employees, who see not only their jobs disappearing but also a piece of the local economic fabric.
In response to this ominous prospect, workers launched peaceful but symbolically powerful protests. In the latest demonstration of distrust towards the institutions, which sometimes seem deaf to the needs of citizens, they have decided to abstain from voting in the European elections. With a highly symbolic gesture, they deposited their electoral cards in containers intended for the local prefect, as evidence of their pain and disappointed civic state.
It is not just a sign of protest, but a real cry for help from those who see their daily survival threatened in an area already tormented by economic instability. “Losing 500 jobs is equivalent, in this land, to an economic and social death sentence,” employees declared during the demonstration. Without work, without prospects, without the dignity that comes from being economically productive, these men and women feel they are deprived of something greater than just a salary: their effective citizenship.
Faced with this reality, the community of Crotone and nearby cities is called to unite, demonstrating solidarity and support for workers in difficulty. The employees, in their declaration, extended an appeal to all citizens: to be present, to be aware, to be active in this struggle which goes beyond the sphere of work and touches the very roots of social equity and the right to work.
The response to “Abraham’s” call will determine not only the future of his employees but also the moral fabric of a community. All of Calabria observes, suspended between the hope of a solidarity solution and resignation in the face of a battle perhaps already lost. In the hands of local and national decision-makers, as well as in those of every citizen, now rests the weight of the fate of hundreds of families. In a society in which work is both a material necessity and a confirmation of dignity, the signal we choose to send at this critical juncture will be decisive, formative and perhaps definitive.
