Running time: 34 mins 18 secs
The longest factory occupation in Italian history (nearly three and a half years) – and almost certainly in European history. A visionary struggle for a just transition from below. A group of very organised and determined workers with a detailed plan to shift production from parts for luxury cars to solar panels and cargo bikes – not for profit, but for the benefit of the community. And a convergence of struggles rising up towards a new vision of the world.
This is the full story of the remarkable struggle by the workers at the GKN factory in Florence – a struggle that, incredibly, has a real chance of winning.
The regional government looks set to vote in favour of public intervention by the end of 2024 to buy the factory off the current owner and hand it to the workers. It is a moderate version that is not enough; it requires the factory to run for profit, which is completely unacceptable to the workers; but it is another step forward and enough for the workers to agree to fight on until April 2025 for full implementation of their reindustrialisation plan.
But in order to be able to do that, those workers now need your solidarity and support again. They have not been paid for twelve months, and will be relying on donations to get through Xmas and the winter; so please help in any way you can, and ask your union branch or organisation to consider making a donation too.
Donations by bank transfer to:
Banca Etica current account in the name of Soms Pinerolo
IBAN IT81 E050 1801 0000 0002 0000 339
BIC ETICIT22XXX
If they manage to pull off a victory against all the odds, it could change everything; but even if they fall at the final hurdle, they have already created the blueprint for the rest of us to follow.
So as one of the union reps says, don’t wait for your jobs to be at risk to start making plans for ecological and productive transition. And if your jobs are already at risk, maybe look at how the ex-GKN workers saved theirs and follow their example.
5 min version of film
