A Working-Class Ecological Perspective on Just Transition: The GKN Case Study

On 9 July 2021, more than 450 metalworkers received a dismissal email from Melrose Industries, the private equity fund that used to own GKN Driveline Florence, a thriving automotive factory producing axle shafts for various types of vehicles, from Stellantis city cars to Lamborghini's latest model. The dismissal was presented as the natural outcome of ‘green transition.’

Since the beginning of the struggle against the closure and the relocation process from Italy to Eastern Europe, a vast network of solidarity groups at both the local and national levels has supported the factory's workers. They announced a long-term permanent assembly and challenged both public institutions and social movements to reshape the destiny of the Florentine firm.

A Solidarity Research Group was formed, with young researchers from all over Italy working with the Factory Collective to develop an industrial reconversion plan that would transform GKN into a public pole of sustainable mobility. The goal is the creation of a so-called «socially integrated public factory», rethinking ecological transition from a working-class perspective, decarbonizing production, and building a new sense of community on the territory.

The former GKN has become a reference point for ecological and climatic struggles in Italy, forging a political alliance with Fridays for Future. Its story exemplifies a path of commoning through the rubbles of the Wasteocene.

Francesca Gabbriellini, PHD student at Università di Bologna and Sciences Po will present the GKN case study and discuss its political, ecological and social implications on Wednesday 25th. The discussion will be moderated by Germana Berlantini, postdoctoral researcher at Centre des Politiques de la Terre and lecturer at the American University of Paris.