Gianni Castellan (photo by Alessandro Tich – Bassanonet archive)
In fact, before becoming a spokesman for local politics, Castellane was a long-time trade unionist with forty years of union activity and various important assignments, including positions as manager of Fim Cisl, union metal worker, and national union coordinator for the Electrolux Group, along with future general secretary CGIL Maurizio Landini.
As a spokesman for the blue overalls, among other things, Castellan personally lived through the dark years of the Smalteri closure and the ensuing crisis and closure of Yar Siltal in part of the “former Smalteri” complex on Via Trozzetti, where today the Pengo Spa factory is located.
Behind the wall of Pengo, as we well know, is Baxi: the alpha and omega of this story that suffocates the summer air of Bassano.
Returning to the Dalla Vecchia slap, Castellan responds to the category president with an open letter in which he recalls the “already received slaps” from Bassano and the people of Bassano and reveals a ten-year-old precedent when, in the midst of a crisis due to the pre-bankruptcy of Iar Siltal, the trade unions unsuccessfully asked to transfer Baxi to a foreign owner to acquire the Iar plant, which was later taken over by Pengo, as in the following text.
OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONFINDUSTRIA VICENZA
Bassano and bassanesi do not give slaps in the face at work; if they ever get them.
We received them on Christmas Eve 1975, when we received 1200 letters of dismissal saying that Smalteria was closed, today Baxi.
Bassano and the people of Bassano, with trade unions and local associations, mobilized to work, to work.
Bassano is a land of work, a land of metal sharecroppers, a land with an industrial vocation and, more recently, a tertiary sector.
But without the primary sector, without agriculture, there is no food, and the use of the territory and its protection is increasingly becoming a central issue to consider.
From this long argument, I learned that without politics with a capital letter, without such a mayor as the late P. Fabrice, we would not have Baksi or Iar Siltal.
Compare with the political qualities of this mayor, this majority, and do not judge Bassano and Bassano harshly.
Also because over time we have received many new slaps; when, for example, careless management led to the closure and bankruptcy of Iar Siltal.
And even if in a minor key, how many disappointments and blows in the face we received when, in the seven years of the IAR dispute, we went to the foreign financial ownership of Baxi to say “buy the IAR plant out of bankruptcy and restore some jobs.” “.
In the end, Pengo intervened, but we were not happy because we knew that the impact on employment was very small.
Now, in the electric chair on the road to Damascus, without filing in oo.ss. industrial plan, we declare our readiness to acquire the Iar warehouse with a delay of 10 years.
I don’t want to get into a venomous debate about a somewhat suspicious time here, I know the seriousness of the Baxi management and until proven otherwise I believe they are in good faith.
Therefore, I confine myself to what I propose, in times of the circular economy, to include among the factors to be analyzed in order to make investments, also and, above all, the position of the territory and its protection, as well as how it was used in the past.
Finally, I ask the President of the Confindustria Vicenza, instead of making summary judgments about Bassano and the people of Bassano, to promote a negotiating table that brings together all social and political interlocutors, because only in this way can we synthesize in the defense of work and territory; the only way we could be as tall as our founding fathers…….maybe!
Gianni Castellane
Italy Viva Bassano Coordination