Ex-GKN Workers Protest in Florence

Former & current GKN employees in a protest leading down via Cavour, Florence

Current and former employees of the auto parts manufacturer GKN – now known as QF following liquidation – will be holding a march, led by Abbot Bernardo Gianni, from the basilica of San Miniato al Monte to piazza Indipendenza in Florence on June 14 starting at 5:30 pm. The event coincides with the 11th day of the group’s hunger strike, which is being held in Piazza Indipendenza in an effort to recover unpaid wages and to support workers’ rights.

This demonstration will be the latest installment in a years-long workers’ rights movement, which began after a series of mass layoffs initiated by GKN in summer 2021.  GKN was a Tuscan factory run a British firm.  Difficulties arose with the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union on February 1, 2020, followed by the pandemic, subsequent lockdowns and restrictions beginning in March 2020.

The remaining employees at the factory, located in Campi Bisenzio in the greater Florence metropolitan area, are expected to lose their jobs by the end of the month upon the closure of the factory. Their activism hopes to secure support for reindustrialization from the Tuscan government.  (tara monastesse)