Call center System House in Misterbianco faces layoffs. "37 breadwinners without jobs"

«We are 37 breadwinners at risk of losing our jobs: the company wants to make a collective layoff». Speaking is an employee of System House, a call center based in Misterbianco operating under this name since April 2021.

The company, with its legal headquarters in Reggio Calabria, took over the activities of Abramo Customer Care five years ago in April. «In reality, we - continues the worker, who requested to remain anonymous - started the activity in 2013 with the call center Mics, which in turn was acquired by Abramo in 2018. In 2021, we transitioned 45 employees to System House from Abramo, which was under bankruptcy management, with a social clause that allowed the transfer of departments and contracts of national interest. Today we no longer have that clause. And the site is set to close». At the time of the last ownership transfer, the workers were indeed employed by Sen (Servizio elettrico nazionale), a service provided to the public, as well as the subsequent employment during the Covid-19 emergency «on the Italian Post Office vaccine department. After the pandemic, we managed the enormous flow of calls in the “packages and registered mail” department until August 2022, when the energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine increased the volumes of the Iren contract, assigning 38-40% of the national total traffic to Catania».

A task that lasted for «three years». But here lies the crux of the matter: «The private contract does not provide for a social clause. In 2025, we received news of a transfer of 350 new operators requested by the ministry. System House declares redundancies and solidarity measures for the entire company across all contracts to avoid trauma solely on the department concerning the newcomers». For the workers from Catania, a long ordeal begins: «From November 2025, we are replaced on Iren by La Spezia with the consequent solidarity measures at 90% until mid-January. Since then, we have been following courses funded by the national fund while waiting for new placement. Only on February 24 is there a new development: solidarity is lifted, and temporary layoff is announced for Catania while waiting for structural solutions. Now the unions inform us that there will be a meeting on Tuesday, March 17 with the agenda “redundancy of personnel at the local unit of Catania”».

After that national meeting on February 24, the union representatives Slc Cgil, Fistel Cisl, Uilcom Uil, and Ugl Telecommunications communicated in a joint note: «In order to manage the excesses, in the coming days the parties will define a voluntary and incentivized exit procedure, with access to NASpI, for a total of 150 employees. Considering the upcoming deadline of March 30 for the second-level company supplementary agreement, the parties also agreed to extend the agreement for the subsequent three years. The national secretariats express satisfaction for the confirmation of the agreement, which provides for more favorable conditions that, in the previous three years, allowed the workers of System House to achieve a significant improvement in work quality and a more effective reconciliation between life and work times». Then yesterday, the confirmation of redundancies.

While waiting to know their fate, the worker wonders: «They take away the contract and you don’t even know where to place 37 people out of 3,200 that you have throughout Italy without finding a way that doesn’t lead 37 families to economic hardship? There are colleagues who have minor children and are single-income and others with mortgages to pay».