Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
MATERA / WORK – A day of national strike and protest in the CRM-BPO sector (Customer Relationship Management and Business Process Outsourcing) to highlight the structural crisis engulfing outsourced contact centres across Italy, with thousands of jobs at risk.
In Basilicata, too, the protest saw wide participation, culminating in a crowded demonstration outside the Prefecture of Matera organised by the unions SLC CGIL, FISTEL CISL, UIL FPC and UGL Telecomunicazioni. A union delegation was received by the prefect’s representatives to hand over a document outlining the priorities and demands of a sector reeling from falling volumes, technological change and constant downward pressure on contract prices.
The CallMat dispute in Matera: cold shower at the regional table
In this context, the CallMat dispute in Matera is one of the most critical situations socially and in employment terms, with around 350 workers living in total uncertainty about their future.
The latest regional meeting – held yesterday with the President of the Basilicata Region Vito Bardi, the regional minister Francesco Cupparo, confederation secretaries and representatives of CallMat and TIM – unfortunately failed to provide the expected reassurances. TIM, the client, has in fact indicated that the extension of activity volumes will be guaranteed only until March 2027, whereas previous informal assurances had pointed to coverage until June.
This backward step shows that the handling of the dispute continues to proceed on an extremely short-term basis rather than on a solid industrial plan.
Tomorrow’s crucial meeting at MIMIT
Union and worker attention is now focused on the summit called for tomorrow, 12 November, in Rome at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MIMIT).
In a joint statement, the regional category secretaries Anna Russelli, Vincenzo Piccinni, Pino Giordano and Giovanni Letterelli set out the course ahead of the ministerial meeting:
“As regards CallMat, it is essential that the ministerial meeting urgently produces clear commitments from TIM and the institutions, capable of ensuring a stable and lasting employment outlook for the 350 workers at the Matera site. Workers cannot go on living in uncertainty, waiting from one extension to the next to learn what their future will be. The strike represents a strong, united demand for change: we need industrial policies, client responsibility and job guarantees that look to the future.”
The unions confirmed that Governor Bardi has undertaken to reconvene the regional meeting immediately after the Rome summit, and announced that the state of mobilisation will continue until definitive safeguards are obtained.
