In September 1999, the closure was announced of Op Computer, an important Italian information technology company, created two years previously from a division of Olivetti. The courts decided not to grant any further reprieves to the company's management and declared the firm bankrupt. Workers then occupied the premises in protest.
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In September 1999, the closure was announced of Op Computer, an important Italian information technology company, created two years previously from a division of Olivetti. The courts decided not to grant any further reprieves to the company's management and declared the firm bankrupt. Workers then occupied the premises in protest.
In October 1996, Olivetti, wishing to focus on the telecommunications sector, announced the sale of its personal computer division. This marked the end of an operation which had made a major contribution to the development of the Italian and European information technology (IT) industry. In April 1997 the American entrepreneur Edward Gottesman, of the Centenary group, bought Olivetti's personal computer plant at Scarmagnano (Turin) and created Op Computer. However, a financial crisis started to affect the firm in May 1998 and culminated in February 1999, when a group of banks refused to open a credit line to finance its recovery. After many vicissitudes, a court in Ivrea (Turin) declared the company bankrupt on 12 May 1999.
The managing director of Op Computer, Roberto Schisano, and three other managers established a new firm called Eurocomputers and "rented" the company from the court until 15 September 1999. Meanwhile, the court tried to sell the company by auction, but the only offer was that from Eurocomputers. This offer did not include the reintegration of 317 workers who had been placed on redundancy lists, which was a fundamental issue for the trade unions. The Ministry of Industry also intervened and tried in vain to find financial and industrial partners.
The affair ended on 16 September 1999 when the Ivrea court, following the opinion of the bankruptcy trustees, decided not to grant any further reprieves and declared the company finally bankrupt.
After the declaration of bankruptcy, the company's workers occupied the plant, which was established 35 years ago. Sergio Dorsi, an information technician acting as a spokesperson for the workers said: "this is an healthy company which can have a future in the Italian information technology sector".
The court's decree also suggests that it might be possible to continue production activity at Scarmagnano. According to the bankruptcy trustees, the extension of the renting arrangement to Eurocomputers "could drive away potential buyers, interested in the continuation of the activities, guaranteeing more realistic occupational levels".
Gianfranco Morgando, subsecretary at the Ministry of Industry, is quite optimistic. He believes that the battle to save the plant still has to be fought. Some potential buyers could come forward (the Libyan concern, Lafico, seems interested in the company) but meanwhile the company is closed, with all the consequences for employment that this entails. Mario Scotti, secretary general of the Piedmont section of the Cisl trade union confederation, stated that "this is an extremely serious event for the economy of Piedmont." Tom Dealessandri, secretary general of Cisl's Turin section, asserted that the closure of the Op Computer represents an "impoverishment of the Italian information technology industry which, in this way, risks going out the strategic personal computers market". The serious consequences for the workers were underlined by Giovanna Ventura, regional secretary of Cisl Piedmont: "these workers have an average age of 47 years. They are too old to be able to find another job and too young to retire ... now, the priority of the highest state institutions is to find guarantees for their futures."
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Eurofound (1999), Op Computer declared bankrupt, article.
