Relazioni industriali o transizione giusta? : immaginari, opportunità e impasse nella vicenda della ex-Gkn di Campi Bisenzio

Industrial relations or just transition? Imaginaries, opportunities and impasses in the case of the former GKN plant in Campi Bisenzio - The chapter analyses the case of the former GKN plant in Campi Bisenzio (Florence). Beginning in 2021, the dispute is one of the most emblematic cases, not only at the national level, of industrial transformation and territorial conflict in the context of transition, and for this reason has been the subject of attention and analysis from the outset. After the announcement of its closure and the subsequent occupation of the plant by the “Factory Collective”, the factory was transformed into a political and technological laboratory, supported by a network of workers and solidarity actors from civil society, including experts in various technical and professional fields who played an important role. After ups and downs, the process experienced a contradictory acceleration between 2024 and 2025. The sale of the site to real estate funds, the approval of the regional law on industrial consortia and the launch of the “due diligence” procedure – aimed at verifying the technical and financial feasibility of the relaunch plan proposed by the “GKN for Future” cooperative set up by the workers and the solidarity network – have redrawn the field of possibilities for participatory reindustrialisation. The uncertainties linked to administrative delays, especially regarding the consortium’s entry into operation, have widened the gap between the timing of mobilisation and that of public governance, threatening the project’s viability. At the same time, cultural practices such as the Working Class Literature Festival have served as a “counter-public sphere”, rooting the experience in a broader process of reappropriation of work and knowledge. The chapter analyses the evolution of the story, identifying the key factors that marked its phases and the way in which the coalition for transition built by the Factory Collective confronted a structurally adverse context, centred on a legal and cultural vision of the enterprise as private property for the benefit of private individuals, and on the traditional system of roles in industrial relations.