Fight against false co-ops and support for ‘workers buy out’, the government’s commitments to Legacoop

Fight against false cooperatives, opportunities and development prospects for healthy ones and support for ‘workers buy out’ cooperatives, i.e. those born on the initiative of workers who take over a company to maintain productive activity and jobs. These are the commitments that the government has made today in front of the Legacoop delegates, gathered in the mid-term assembly, under the leadership of President Mauro Lusetti, in Rome. The Minister of Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti, intervened with a video message, announced that “the ministry will put forward every initiative for the enhancement of the cooperative world with specific programs to accompany cooperative enterprises in growth paths” but all this cannot “ignore the adoption of suitable measures to overcome criticalities and distorting phenomena, among all the fight against false cooperation which is among the political priorities of 2022 “. On the subject of ‘workers buy out’ (literally workers who buy) spoke the Minister of Labor Andrea Orlando, the Deputy Minister of Economy Laura Castelli and the Undersecretary for Development Anna Ascani. Moreover, in a historical moment like this, such initiatives are supported by the government which has allocated 15 million euros for 3 years in the next budget law. ‘there will be significant signals in the maneuver’ Orlando assured that in the next maneuver there will be “significant signals” and “it will become a structurally supported element, we wanted it as an integral part of the reform of the social safety nets” he explained speaking in video link with the audience of cooperators. On the same wavelength, Undersecretary for Economic Development Anna Ascani. “That tool must be strengthened” he said after highlighting its importance as “it has prevented entrepreneurial and productive realities from disappearing from territories that are sometimes considered marginal, it has been able to enhance skills and keep companies in difficulty alive”. “We need to strengthen the support given to workers – he stressed – when they decide to undertake the very complicated challenge of taking on a business. We will deal with this in the budget law”. While on the same ‘workers buy out’ theme, the Deputy Minister of Economy Laura Castelli (M5 Stelle) was more cautious, albeit very positive. “You have proposed new rules to improve ‘workers buy out’ and I hope to be able to tell you very soon that they will be approved, we are working to make this happen”. Castelli sees the entrepreneurial initiative of former employees who revive the fortunes of a company as an opportunity to avoid relocations. “Thanks also to your contribution, we were able to intervene in the debate by saying that there are different solutions to avoid relocation. We did it with the worker buyout “. ” Coop turnover -3%, different impacts by sector, collapse in culture, tourism and entertainment The picture that emerges is certainly not rosy for the Italian cooperatives that have suffered the effects of the pandemic with a decline turnover of 3% between 2019 and 2020 but, at the same time, they proved resilient considering that the fall in GDP of the Italian economy was 9%; moreover, the level of members and employment held up. it is not a little in a year, 2020, that Lusetti has defined “the most catastrophic in times of peace due to the loss of human life and the recession that has hit the world.” A year that will take “a” Pact for Italy based on solidarity “remarked the leader of Legacoop. Small cooperatives suffered the most, as emerges from the data released by Legacoop, resulting from an average of the sectors that recorded the most marked downturns such as culture, tourism and entertainment (the most penalized by closures, -41.6%), services (-9.0%), social cooperatives (-9.0%), of inhabitants (-4.0%) and those that, on the contrary, have achieved growth, such as agri-food (+ 1.9%) and commercial distribution (consumer cooperatives, + 2.6%, and between retailers, + 11.5%). This is what emerges from the analysis of the data relating to the more than 10,500 cooperatives belonging to Legacoop (with more than 456,000 employees, 7.4 million members and a total production value exceeding 80 billion), presented at the Assembly. (by Cristina Armeni)