About 40 artisans from the Gucci design studio downed their tools on Monday in the first strike by creatives to prevent the planned move of much of the team from Rome to Milan.
The Italian luxury brand, owned by French conglomerate Kering, announced in October that it would transfer 153 of its 219 design employees from the capital to Milan, a move the strikers described as a “disguised mass layoff.”
“Gucci cuts but doesn’t sew,” read a banner held by protesters outside one of its offices in Rome, while another read: “Firing is fashionable at Gucci.” “The Style Office is the heart of Gucci, this is where the designers and couturiers work and this is where all the collections are created. This is the first strike in the company’s history,” Chiara Giannotti, a union representative for the brand, told AFP ahead of the four-hour strike.
Last week, more than 50 Gucci employees took part in a nationwide strike organized by Italy’s largest unions, Giannotti said. “Kering wants to use this restructuring to reduce staff and dismiss employees who have been offered inadequate conditions or who cannot leave Rome because they have their families and children there,” she said.
Gucci told AFP that the measure “does not involve any reduction in staff and will be carried out in full compliance with current regulations.” The company has also provided “a range of economic and support measures” for affected employees, the company said.
While 153 workers are due to be transferred to Milan by March, the fate of the 66 other skilled workers remaining in Rome is “uncertain”, unions said. “We demand the same conditions for everyone as part of the transfer to Milan or the transfer of employees to other Kering companies in Rome or Florence,” said Giannotti.
Gucci changed its artistic director in January and brought Sabato De Sarno on board to replace Alessandro Michele. Michele had revolutionized the label over the past seven years with his eccentric, gender-bending designs and unusual shows. (AFP)