A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #17-26 - Global competition, social fragility. The Natuzzi crisis and the transformation of the upholstered furniture district (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

"We are a global company." The words uttered by Pasquale Natuzzi during 
the open city council meeting of the Municipality of Santeramo are 
probably the best way to understand what is happening today, not only at 
Natuzzi, but throughout the entire upholstered furniture district 
between Puglia and Basilicata. ---- For years, that district has been 
described as one of the success stories of Italian capitalism: factories 
rooted in the region, local entrepreneurship, widespread employment, 
exports worldwide. Santeramo, Altamura, Matera, Laterza, Ginosa: names 
that have shaped a significant part of the industrial geography of 
Southern Italy.

Today, however, that story reveals all its contradictions.
The long-running Natuzzi dispute, dragged on for months between 
ministerial discussions, regional meetings, industrial plans, and 
negotiations breakdowns, is not simply about a corporate crisis. It 
speaks to something deeper: the transformation of the relationship 
between business, region, and labor within contemporary globalization.
The company openly discusses restructuring, competitiveness, 
outsourcing, reshoring, economic and financial stability, and adapting 
its business model. The language is typical of global corporations, 
where local communities and work are viewed primarily through the 
criteria of economic sustainability and the ability to withstand 
international competition. Indeed, today's Natuzzi is no longer simply a 
large local factory. It is a company listed on Wall Street, with over a 
thousand stores worldwide, aiming for international commercial expansion 
in London, Singapore, and China, while simultaneously redesigning its 
production structure in the Murgia region.

On the one hand, new stores are announced, along with investments in 
marketing, international business development, integrated logistics, and 
the creation of new service companies. On the other, redundancies, plant 
closures, staff redeployments, early retirement incentives, layoffs, and 
labor cost reductions are discussed.
This is where the phrase "we are a global company" takes on its true 
meaning.
It doesn't just mean selling products worldwide. Above all, it means 
that the region enters into permanent competition with other regions.
Santeramo competes with Romania. The Murgia region competes with other 
international production areas. And workers are pushed to compete with 
other workers within a global supply chain governed by cost reduction.
In fact, one of the central points of the negotiations concerns 
reshoring, that is, the possible return to Italy of some production 
currently relocated abroad. But even this return is subject to a 
specific condition: economic sustainability. In other words: production 
is only allowed here if it's sufficiently profitable.
In this sense, globalization doesn't eliminate the region. It transforms 
it into an economic variable. For decades, the industrial district had 
functioned as a relatively integrated production community, founded on 
the presence of local labor, local supply chains, widespread knowledge, 
and a strong connection between the factory and the social fabric. The 
growth of businesses coincided, at least in part, with that of the 
region that hosted them.

Today, however, that model appears profoundly changed.
The district survives only if it manages to remain competitive within a 
global supply chain dominated by cost pressures, production mobility, 
and financialization.
And here another clear contradiction emerges. On the one hand, 
institutions continue to portray Natuzzi as a symbol of productive 
Puglia, a local asset, a symbol of Made in Italy excellence, almost a 
"beacon" of southern industrial development. On the other, however, the 
entire discussion about the group's future revolves around the need to 
reduce costs, reorganize production, outsource activities, incentivize 
exits, and utilize social safety nets to keep the company competitive.

The role of the Regions also fits within this logic. There is talk of 
tax relief, active policies, training funds, and public support and 
investment instruments. In practice, the local area is being called upon 
to financially support the continued existence of the global enterprise, 
in an attempt to make it sufficiently competitive compared to other 
production areas.
The language of "zero redundancy" also illustrates this ambiguity. The 
redundancies don't really disappear: they're transformed into early 
retirements, exit incentives, relocations, mobility, and layoffs. The 
social problem isn't eliminated, but rather redistributed over time and 
gradually absorbed by the local community and public welfare.
It's no coincidence that the unions have spoken of workers "paying 
twice": as factory workers, with reduced wages and years of social 
safety nets, and as citizens, through the public support guaranteed to 
the company.
And this is perhaps the most important political point of the story.
Social safety nets, which once represented an extraordinary tool for 
addressing temporary crises, have now become a structural component of 
the production model. The crisis no longer appears as an exceptional 
event, but as a permanent condition of industrial life.

Meanwhile, financial pressure is also growing. The listing on the New 
York Stock Exchange, budget difficulties, the risk of delisting, and 
delays in wage payments show how even a historic Italian manufacturing 
company is now immersed in the logic of global finance.
And so the Natuzzi affair is no longer just a local dispute.
It becomes the story of a broader transformation: that of a capitalism 
that maintains the brands, symbols, and rhetoric of the local area, but 
increasingly organizes production, work, and investments according to 
global profitability criteria.
For years, the upholstered furniture district has been held up as an 
example of regional development. Today, that same story is showing its 
reverse. When a company says, "We are a global company," it's also 
saying that its relationship with the local area is no longer a stable 
bond, but one continually challenged by global competition, financial 
profitability, and the ability to reduce costs and labor.
And in this competition, local communities suddenly discover that they 
are no longer the center of industrial history, but just one variable 
among others. Workers, however, had already learned this the hard way.

Totò Caggese

https://umanitanova.org/competizione-globale-fragilita-sociale-la-crisi-natuzzi-e-la-trasformazione-del-distretto-del-mobile-imbottito/
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