Conca d'Oro announces its reopening. On 28 September, a meeting between unions and institutions

There are dark clouds over the future of the Conca d’Oro Shopping Centre in Palermo. Following the serious fire on 1 September, two shops have announced their definitive closure.

On Monday 28 September, talks with the institutions

And to think that, for the complex, the administrators of the company that owns it, Compal, which has been in judicial liquidation for some time, have announced that several activities, around sixty out of a total of 100 according to local newspapers, will restart in October.

After the terrifying fire, probably caused by a short circuit, the complex — with 55.000 sq m of gross lettable area and opened in March 2012 — was in fact divided into colour-coded quadrants according to the damage: white zone, regularly accessible; yellow zone, properties subject to inspections and checks; red zone, currently unusable.

Two closures announced

However, some tenants have publicly announced that they will close anyway. A few days ago, Iqos (electronic cigarettes, a shop operated by Alphaomega) and, before it, Risparmio Casa, represented by Rica Gest. Too few to start sounding the alarm? It depends on your point of view...

In any event, the trade unions — Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs Sicilia — have called, for Monday 28 September, a protest demonstration and a discussion table with the institutions.

The problem concerning Risparmio Casa arose last 18 September. On that occasion, the trade union organisations met with the owners and pointed out that 23 jobs were at risk.

The talks with Rica Gest–Risparmio Casa

During the meeting, as stated in a note, the company said that, following the assessments carried out on the damage suffered by the shop and given that it was impossible to reopen it immediately, as the premises are located in the so-called “red zone”, it does not intend to continue its commercial activity at Conca d’Oro and will withdraw from the lease.

The workers’ organisations asked whether there was an intention to maintain a presence in the Palermo area by opening a new shop, and Rica Gest–Risparmio Casa replied positively, while specifying that any opening would not take place immediately.

Precisely in order to safeguard employment during the period needed to identify a new premises, Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs then put forward the request to use social safety nets, in order to guarantee income and continuity of employment.

The company, however, proposed, as an alternative, the possibility of redeploying the 23 people to other shops across the country, wherever positions were available.

A wider crisis?

“The fire at Conca d’Oro cannot and must not be paid for by the workers. We cannot accept an event for which these people bear no responsibility turning into the loss of their jobs and income for 23 families,” declared Giuseppa Aiello, general secretary of Filcams Cgil Palermo, Stefano Spitalieri, general secretary of Fisascat Cisl, and Ida Saja, general secretary of Uiltucs Sicilia.

But the concern of the trade union organisations, the report continues, goes well beyond the specific dispute. “We fear that the closure of Risparmio Casa (and then of Iqos, ed.)could be only one of the first closure decisions among the businesses affected by the fire. Other shops have suffered the consequences of what happened, and we cannot wait for further companies, one after another, to announce their decision not to reopen. If this were to happen, we would no longer be talking about the dispute involving 23 workers, but about a much broader employment crisis”.

PLAN OF THE CONCA D'ORO SHOPPING CENTRE

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.