Meta resumes hiring in Italy. But without absorbing the redundancies

Meta license. Meta takes over. Goal decides. The unions, for now, have been cornered. The negotiation between the Italian branch of the holding which controls Facebook, Whatsapp and InstagramAnd Cgil, Cisl and Uil on the layoffs of the company’s staff, in the wake of the 11,000 redundancies plan announced worldwide by founder Mark Zuckerberg, is at a standstill. The 22 layoffs would have narrowed to 18, but not because of Meta’s intention to absorb these people. On the contrary, while a plan for new hires is starting from the parent company after the cleanup in November, in Italy the negotiations between the company and the unions have ended up on a dead end.

“The picture that emerges confirms our concerns: the absence of effective solutions.
Facebook promises agreements that do not see a real practical translation, “virtual” and not concrete intentions. The layoffs they intend to implement are otherwise extremely real“, I write Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs.

Many of the graduates in Meta Italia were hired in 2022

First meeting between the unions and the Italian branch of the Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp holding company. Requested the withdrawal or downsizing of the 22 redundancies. A large number of people had just joined the company

The numbers

From the meeting of 13 December it emerged that the group of people to be fired in Italy has reduced. From 10pm to 6pm. But not because Meta has decided to give the four workers a second chance. One resigned the same day the cuts were announced. And the other three cases are related to parallel procedures underway abroad. “They do not depend on the Italian strategy”, says Bruno Pilo, at the table representing Uiltucs Milano.

Not only. As can be seen on LinkedIn, the social network of professionals, Meta is hiring. Also in Italy. Six days ago, for example, an ad was published for a product designer, which has already received 90 applications. Over 100 came for the direction of the product management section.

Overall they are Meta has 15 open positions in Italy: network engineer (for submarine cables); engineer with specialization in computer vision; artificial intelligence specialists; figures in the field of data protection and privacy; a manager for the data center area and one for data dedicated to Instagram.

Meta also licenses in Italy

After Zuckerberg’s announcement, lightning communication to institutions and unions to notify 22 redundancies in the Milan office out of 127 employees. Roles cut in recruiting, communication, marketing and SME support

Dark future

For this reason, the company and the unions have made a last appointment to find an agreement: Monday 19th December. A few days before the expiry of the 45 days established by law to settle the dispute between the parties. Then there would be another month before getting fired. Meta at the table you say you want an agreement but for the unions, actions do not reflect words. “We ask again that the Meta/Facebook group does not speculate on people and withdraw layoffs that have the sole purpose of containing costs on departments deemed less profitable by shifting future investments in favor of others deemed strategic (above all the metaverse) – the position of the workers’ spokesmen -. The last date for discussions in the trade union phase will be 19 December, after which, as already anticipated at the negotiating table, we will reserve the right to implement all the actions we deem necessary”. Wired failed to get Meta to comment before this article was published.

The company still struggles on the stock market. But after peaking in November, a meltdown that prompted Zuckerberg to cut 11,000 jobs and acknowledge the flop of his metaverse plan to please angry investors, the stock has rallied on Wall Street. In about a month since the announcement of the global downsizing plan Meta gained just over 3.8%. Nothing to do with the assessments of November 2021, compared to which the title has lost 61%.

Meta is not yet out of the storm. Only a week ago the council of European privacy supervisors took three binding decisions on data processing of users that the company makes through its social networks. Decisions that could translate into heavy penalties for the multinational, so much so that Politic reported that Meta has set aside 3 billion euros to be prepared for possible fines.