Italy's industrial heartlands face another test as union officials warn the government against fragmenting Sanac, a refractory materials producer in special administration since 2015. A single binding bid from Erre Trading S.p.A. targets only the Massa Carrara facility, leaving 80 jobs at the Assemini plant in Sardinia hanging by a thread and raising questions about whether Italy's bankruptcy system can preserve industrial capacity or merely liquidates it piece by piece.
Why This Matters
• Job security at stake: Approximately 80 workers in Assemini could lose employment if the Massa Carrara-only sale proceeds, with only vague "reindustrialization" promises.
• Fragmentation risk: The single buyer shows concrete interest in one of four Sanac sites (Massa Carrara, Assemini, Gattinara, Vado Ligure), threatening to split the industrial chain.
• Regional precedent: Sardinia has seen multiple reindustrialization pledges dissolve into permanent closures, making local officials skeptical.
• Government decision pending: The Italy Ministry of Business and Made in Italy must approve or reject an offer that unions call "the worst-case scenario."
The Bid That Alarms Labor Leaders
Erre Trading, a Massa-based firm with roots in scrap metal trading and metallurgical commerce, submitted the sole binding proposal after the latest tender closed. According to the company's industrial plan shared with administrators, Erre Trading commits to acquiring the Massa Carrara operations and indicates willingness to evaluate purchasing the Gattinara and Vado Ligure sites in Liguria and Piedmont. For Assemini, located in the Macchiareddu industrial zone near Cagliari, the plan mentions only a hypothetical "future industrial reuse" without specifying timelines, investment, or workforce retention.
This split-sale structure has triggered immediate pushback from Filctem Cgil, Femca Cisl, and Uiltec Uil—the three main industrial unions representing chemical and manufacturing workers across Italy. Territorial secretaries Giampiero Manca, Mattia Carta, and Davide Collu issued a joint statement calling on the Italy Cabinet and the Sardinia Regional Government to block any sale that fails to guarantee all four plants and current employment levels. "We are looking at a breakup of production sites with severe repercussions on an industrial history that has every potential to continue as a unified entity," the secretaries warned.
What This Means for Assemini
The Assemini workforce has weathered a decade of uncertainty. Sanac, indirectly controlled by Ilva S.p.A. (itself in special administration), entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2015. By mid-2024, the facility had restarted its furnace after a two-year shutdown, ramping up output to meet orders from Taranto's steel operations. Workers gradually returned from wage guarantee schemes, and plant managers hinted at new hires starting in September 2024 once all furloughed employees resumed shifts. Environmental impact authorizations were renewed for Massa, Vado Ligure, and Gattinara, while Cagliari's permit awaited final approval.
That recovery now faces an abrupt reversal. Under the Erre Trading proposal, Assemini would cease active production, with no binding commitment to replace manufacturing capacity or absorb the roughly 80 employees currently on the payroll. "Reindustrialization" in Sardinia has historically meant asset sales followed by closure—patterns documented in the island's petrochemical and aluminum sectors—prompting union representatives to label the term a euphemism for job loss.
Union Appeal to Rome and Cagliari
Labor leaders emphasize that Sanac's four plants form an integrated supply chain for refractory materials used in steel, glass, and cement production. Splitting the network, they argue, undermines economies of scale and technical synergies, making each isolated site less viable. The unions urge the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy to reject any acquisition that does not preserve the entire footprint and workforce. They also call on Sardinia's Industry Councillor to advocate forcefully for Assemini, citing the region's track record of failed reindustrialization pledges.
Earlier in the sale process—February 2025—three companies submitted expressions of interest: Linco Baxo Industrie Refrattari S.p.A. for the entire business, Salva S.p.A. for Vado Ligure alone, and Erre Trading for Massa. By the time binding bids arrived, only Erre Trading remained. The administrators scheduled due diligence to conclude in April 2026, but no second bidder emerged, leaving officials with a binary choice: accept a partial sale or return to the tender drawing board.
Political Positions and Next Steps
Parliamentary voices have weighed in. Ilaria Cavo, a Ligurian deputy, stated publicly that the Ministry's objective is a unified sale, not a piecemeal transaction. She noted that commissioners deemed the Massa-only offer "not immediately acceptable" and have opened negotiations to explore a comprehensive purchase. Whether Erre Trading can be persuaded—or compelled—to expand its commitment remains unclear, as does the timeline for a final decision.
In November 2025, Sardinia's Industry Councillor requested a meeting with the special administrators and the Minister of Business to head off fragmentation. That meeting evidently failed to produce the desired outcome, given the current impasse.
Lessons From Italy's Reindustrialization Track Record
Italy's landscape is dotted with former factories repurposed as cultural hubs, university campuses, and residential complexes. Milan's Fabbrica del Vapore—once a locomotive repair shed—now hosts galleries and recording studios. Turin's Parco Dora transformed Fiat manufacturing grounds into green space. Cittadellarte in Biella turned textile mills into an arts foundation. These successes, however, typically involve urban real estate close to population centers, not rural or semi-industrial zones like Macchiareddu.
Between 2014 and 2017, the Italy Crisis Management Unit (UGV) claimed to have placed more than 77,000 workers in new jobs through active labor policies, moving beyond the old model of indefinite furlough schemes and early retirement. In ten high-profile cases—including Blutec, Whirlpool, and Embraco—the unit reported saving 2,600 of 13,000 pre-crisis positions. Critics note that those figures still represent a 80% job-loss rate, underscoring the difficulty of preserving employment when factories close.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) funds the GOL (Garanzia Occupabilità dei Lavoratori) program, which channels displaced workers into reskilling tracks for digital, healthcare, logistics, sustainable tourism, and green-manufacturing roles. For Assemini, however, the question is whether national training schemes can absorb an entire plant closure in a region where alternative industrial employers are scarce.
What Comes Next
The special administrators will submit their recommendation to the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, which holds final approval authority. If the government authorizes the Massa-only sale, the Assemini site enters limbo: asset auctions, environmental remediation obligations, and the search for a buyer willing to restart production. If officials reject the bid and relaunch the tender, Sanac remains in administration with mounting losses, and the four plants operate under continued uncertainty.
Union representatives have made clear they will not accept what they call a "worst-case spezzatino"—slicing the company like a butcher's cut—and are prepared to escalate protests if the government greenlights a partial transaction. For the 80 families in Assemini whose incomes depend on the refractory furnace, the coming weeks will determine whether Italy's bankruptcy framework prioritizes industrial continuity or expedient liquidation.
