Micron workers strike in Italy

Micron workers went on strike again yesterday with three quarters of the company’s workers at its Catania site going out on strike.

They were joined by some people who were Micron employees but have now returned to ST, who came out in sympathy.

“I think that the message is clear, the solidarity among the workers is great,” a striker told Electronics Weekly. “I think this is not well understandable in the Anglo-Saxon world, but we consider a job a matter of life and death.”

That’s because in some parts of a Italy there are few opportunities for jobs for skilled people.

More strikes are planned at Micron’s sites in Agrate and Arzano (Naples).

Problems arose last year when Micron tried to sack a third of its Italian workforce – 419 people.

Subsequently ST re-hired 160 of these because the workers originally came from ST’s jv with Micron, Numonyx, which was transferred to Micron.

Some of the 419 have been re-employed by Micron and some have taken redundancy but 33 Micron employees remain without a job.

Under the deal between Micron, ST and the unions, it was agreed that ST would re-employ 170 of the sacked Micron researchers.

If ST sticks to its promise and employs another ten people, then that leaves 23 people without a job and it is hoped that Micron, which is doing extremely well at the moment, will find employment for the final 23.

Micron’s 2014 sales are expected to be up 16% on 2013 at $16.6 billion. It has a market cap of $34 billion and cash of $4.3 billion.

david manners

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via Yuichun