Iran Press/Europe: Workers downed tools over the threatened closure by US white goods maker Whirlpool of a production site in the capital of the Campania region, and potential loss of over 1,000 jobs.
Whirlpool Wednesday announced a last-minute reprieve for the factory, which had been due to shut at the end of this month, but there was no guarantee a fresh round of negotiations with the government would save it.
"We're the victims of endless deindustrialization. Companies shut, young people leave," trade unionist Andrea Amendola told AFP, as fellow protesters held up an effigy of a Whirlpool worker nailed to the cross like prophet Jesus.
The company insists the site which makes high-end washing machines is no longer profitable and wants to sell -- despite having signed a 2019-2021 plan in which it pledged to invest some 250 million euros ($278 million) in its Italy factories.
The closure of the Naples plant could see over 400 workers left high and dry, as well as hundreds of others along the supply chain.
The dispute is the latest headache for the Five Star Movement (M5S), which holds the economic development ministry in the left-leaning coalition government, but has struggled to get a grip on a series of industrial crises across Italy.
Troubled sites from the ArcelorMittal steelworks to car components manufacturer Blutec have come to symbolize the dire straits of the so-called Mezzogiorno, which has languished for decades despite repeated bids to revive it.
The European Commission warned Rome in October that it risks a cut in EU structural funds unless it maintains "an adequate level" of funding for the south.
Many of the workers who are threatened with redundancies are facing the prospect of using food banks to feed their families.
Over half the 2.7 million people in Italy who resorted to food aid last year live in the south, agricultural association Coldiretti said, with the Campania region topping the table of poverty-induced hunger.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of the southern regions is just half that of central and northern Italy, while unemployment hovers near 20 percent, double the rest of the country, according to the Bank of Italy.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has pledged to launch an extraordinary investment plan for the Mezzogiorno and the government introduced a basic income scheme in April, but it has suffered serious teething problems. 101/211
