World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

Embraco workers offered new jobs

ITALY: Most of the remaining workers at Embraco’s doomed Italian refrigeration compressor plant look set to be offered jobs with new employers.

Workers at the former Aspera factory in Riva di Chieri near Turin were told of its closure in January, with Embraco’s owner Whirlpool informing them that production was to be transferred to its plant in Slovakia. The workers and unions dogged fight to save the jobs of the 497 employees went all the way to the European parliament.

Italian minister of economic development minister Carlo Calenda has now announced that the workers jobs will be saved by new projects from two firms, who will take on the workers with the same rights and the same salaries, without any public money support.

The two companies are described by newspaper Corriere della Sera as an Israeli-Chinese joint venture looking to produce robots for the cleaning of photovoltaic panels and filters and Turin-based Astelav, a company selling spares for household appliances.

The Israeli-Chinese company is reported to have committed to hiring about 350 employees, while Astelav will employ 40. Another 70 employees have decided to leave the company in recent months using the incentives offered by Embraco.

The impact of delocalisation on workers and regions in the light of the recent Embraco case is set to be discussed in the European Parliament this week.

Just last month, Whirlpool announced the sale of Embraco, minus its Italian manufacturing plant, to Japanese company Nidec.

Related stories:

Whirlpool confirms Embraco sale – 24 April 2018
USA: Whirlpool has confirmed its intention to sell the Embraco compressor business to the Japanese Nidec Corporation, with the transaction expected to close in early 2019. Read more…

Embraco factory closure postponed – 4 March 2018
ITALY: Workers at the threatened Embraco refrigeration compressor factory in Riva di Chieri have received a postponement of redundancy until the end of the year. Read more…

Embraco workers take fight to Brussels – 27 February 2018
ITALY: A delegation of workers from Embraco will meet MEPs in Brussels tomorrow (Wednesday), as the closure of the Turin refrigeration compressor factory becomes a major election issue in Italy. Read more…

Embraco to close Italian factory – 16 January 2018
ITALY: Embraco has confirmed the closure of its Italian refrigeration compressor factory. Read more…

Latest News

26th April 2024

Eurovent ME awards first F-gas training certificates

UAE: Eurovent Middle East has awarded the first certificates for F-gas handling to eleven HVACR engineers and technicians from refrigeration specialist EPTA Middle East. 
25th April 2024

Carrier sales up 17%

USA: Carrier achieved net sales of $6.2bn in Q1, a 17% rise on the same period last year. Organic sales were up 2%.
25th April 2024

Beijer Ref offers high speed refrigerant recovery

UK: Beijer Ref Refrigerants UK has announced a new refrigerant recovery service focused on simplifying the recovery process from larger systems.
24th April 2024

Daikin opens Doncaster Sustainable Home Centre

UK: Daikin has opened a new Sustainable Home Centre, its sixth this year, at Doncaster-based plumbing and heating supplier Spinks.
24th April 2024

NIST optimises pulse tube refrigerator

USA: Scientists from the USA’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) claim to have dramatically reduced the time and energy required to chill materials to temperatures near absolute zero.
24th April 2024

Clivet’s Thunder cracks R290 heat pump market

ITALY: Clivet Thunder is a new air-cooled reversible heat pump equipped with inverter scroll compressors specifically designed for use with R290 refrigerant.