Philipp Plein: 61 jobs go and alarm raised

From 140 to 79 employees. Coming as the result of the company reorganisation started last year and ended (perhaps) with the coronavirus which led to significant job losses at Philipp Plein in Lugano. After being at the centre of major controversy two years ago, when a night-time pizza delivery threw up a series of complaints about working conditions in the company - something he here denies - the German Lugano-based designer never fails to be talked about. In an interview in yesterday's edition of "20 minutes", Plein himself explained the difficulties he encountered last year, when he had to reduce the number of employees in the Lugano offices from 140 to 110, in addition to the present ones. "The lockdown was a heavy blow and the recovery isn't so simple," he explains. So Plein had to cut staff by 20 % in the stores against an 80 % drop in revenue. And in spite of this, despite federal help and short-working, job losses occurred again in Lugano, from 110 to 79.

"No lay-offs? Immoral"

According to Plein, "in the absence of prospects, avoiding lay-offs is immoral. Why keep an employee at the taxpayers' expense knowing I'll leave him at home when assistance ends?" OCST trade unionist Paolo Coppi, worried by the size of the cuts made, dismissed his statements. "Going from 140 employees to 79 within six months means putting in place a reorganisation of about 50% and when such reorganisations are made, a question arises: is everything above board? In these situations, according to the Swiss Code of Obligations, it is necessary to communicate the restructuring measures to the competent offices, to open proceedings and to be transparent, for example on the willingness to establish a corporate plan". That is why yesterday the Christian trade union reported the case to the Employment Inspectorate in Bellinzona. «We don't want the moral high ground," continues Coppi, "but in Ticino there are rules that define a way forward for workers and employers. And it is natural to ask why Plein should always be above the rules". We don't want to abandon all hope. "I hope I'm wrong and the Inspectorate tells us all the correct steps have been taken."

"Unacceptable statements"

At the present, given by the economic crisis due to the coronavirus, there are many regional entrepreneurs in difficulty. "Yes, and precisely because the German designer says he loves the working environment, it is important that the rules which apply to thousands of entrepreneurs apply also to him. Plein says that it is immoral not to lay-off people when there is no certainty in the future and this," the trade unionist urges, "is an unacceptable statement: it is like saying that it is immoral to treat a seriously ill person. It has been made clear that the federal assistance is precisely to avoid lay-offs, or at least to delay that moment as much as possible. It's an assistance which should give entrepreneurs some breathing space to make any decisions later, after a calm assessment of the situation". What also displeases the trade union is the fact that Plein never mentions the workers in the interview. "There's a dark phase in employee management that isn't discussed, and it's about time we laid our cards on the table," he says.

"Willing to discuss"

This is why the OCST, which has repeatedly dealt with working conditions in the company, renews its offer of cooperation: "We are willing to discuss personnel regulations or a contract that shows transparency. If the designer really cares about the area, now's the time to prove it, otherwise his position will always be questionable". In addition, the unions are hard at work checking whether or not the conditions of the remaining staff during these troubled months have remained the same. This is one aspect about which we have no reliable information at the moment.

Recruitment for e-commerce instead

Not just lay-offs. In fact, according to the designer, the company "has created new jobs in online sales and in stores, but outside Ticino". A quick search on the website actually reveals job vacancies in sectors related to e-commerce, also in Lugano.