"Agreements torn up with an email and no union contact. The Beauty sale? We found out about it in the papers." Kering Italia employees are on strike.
October 21, 2025
ilfattoquotidiano by Ilaria Mauri
The unions are targeting the new direction of the French giant, which in the name of a "global strategy" has begun to dismantle consolidated agreements, starting with smart working.
A united front not seen in a quarter of a century. This morning, employees of all
Kering Group brands in Italy —from
Gucci to Bottega Veneta, from Yves Saint Laurent to Balenciaga —went on strike for the first four hours, with sit-ins in Milan and Scandicci. It's the first major social unrest since Luca De Meo, the top manager called upon to restore the group's finances, and it's made even more significant by the fact that so many white-collar workers are turning up, a rare occurrence in the fashion world. In
Scandicci , the heart of the luxury leather goods industry, it wasn't just blue-collar workers who took to the streets, but especially those in design, development, and industrial production. This historic demonstration, supported "
by a large majority" and supported "with approximately
90% of votes in favor at the assembly ," marks the end of an era of peaceful industrial relations and the beginning of a head-on clash with the group's new management. We're still waiting for the membership figures, but we're talking about 1,200 employees at Gucci, 250 at Balenciaga (including logistics and part of production), 30 at Alexander McQueen, and 200 at Ginori 1735.
But what prompted workers at the French luxury giant to strike, after they'd never protested for
25 years ? "It's usually more difficult to get office workers to strike, especially in the fashion world, but we went on strike because this group, which has historically focused on relationships and caring for its employees, abandoned its usual policies about a year ago,"
Massimo Bollini , secretary of the Florence-based Filctem CGIL, explained to Il Fatto.it . "They've begun to adopt very authoritarian and unilateral attitudes. When they involve us, they essentially take a position and want to leave with exactly the same position. Generally, the logic is: either you accept the company's request, or nothing is done. There's no longer any discussion. The supply chain is already strained: our strike mandate passed with 90% of the votes in favor."
The "casus belli" that ignited the protests was
the management of smart working . Kering downplayed the issue, citing a disagreement over the reduction of remote working from eight to four days a month. But for the unions, the method is unacceptable: "Smart working is simply the first thing that was attacked," Bollini clarifies. "In November 2024, a joint communication from Francesca Bellettini and Jean-Marc Duplaix was released in which, in an email to all employees worldwide, they announced the reduction to one day a week,
tearing up existing union agreements that provided for more. After our complaints, they opened a discussion on individual agreements, but their position remained exactly the same as in the communication." This, the union representative emphasizes, has become a modus operandi. From the
renewal of supplementary contracts with
"regressive" proposals, to outright
"blackmail" in the retail sector , where a fixed welfare bonus that was paid out annually was denied, with the explanation that the supplementary contract had expired. The latest episode was the news of the
sale of Kering Beauté to L'Oréal: "
We learned from the press that the Beauty assets had been sold . But there are dozens of workers within the various brands who work in that segment.
Hearing the news from the press, without having discussed it first, is scary , especially in a group that until a few months ago was accustomed to sharing information with representatives in advance."
For its part, Kering Italia clarified in a
statement that the reduction in remote working was announced in November 2024, consistent with its
global strategy aimed at "promoting
cohesion, collaboration, and professional development ," aligning itself with "the approach of many companies in the sector." The company recalled two extensions of the previous agreement (until May 30 and then September 30, 2025), to be implemented starting in October: "We continue to recognize the importance of flexibility in supporting individual needs, within a policy deemed necessary to ensure company priorities and proper collaboration dynamics."
The workers' true, great fear is what hasn't yet been announced. Today's protest comes amid a deep crisis for the group, which, after a slowdown in 2024, closed the first half of 2025 with
revenues down 16% (
and Gucci down 25% ). New CEO
Luca De Meo took office on September 15th
, introducing a "leaner organization" and launching a plan to restore the group's finances or, at the very least, contain its losses. Third-quarter results will be released on Wednesday, October 22nd, after the markets are closed. "It's clear there's a crisis," Bollini concludes. "But our fears are tied to what could happen tomorrow. Difficulties must be managed together, not with impositions," Bollini says. "The goal is shared:
to relaunch the brands without passing the social costs on to workers and without tearing apart the supply chain and related industries . We just want to regain what has always been about:
a dialogue ." Whether dialogue or unilateral decisions prevail will say a lot not only about Kering's future in Italy, but also about the social stability of one of Europe's most important fashion districts.
