Flying or Crashing

On 12 and 13 October 2024, supporters who had subscribed to cooperative shares for the Gff cooperative met in the ex-GKN factory in Campi Bisenzio. We document their final declaration and attach a summary of the cooperative's business plan.

Fly or crash. The deadline is 15 November 2024. Get ready for 17 November!

The shareholders of the people's share of the cooperative in formation Gff,
- approve the industrial project as presented at the meeting on 13 October.
- confirm their willingness to support the re-industrialisation of the former GKN from the bottom up.
- ask to be represented in the discussion on reindustrialisation
- the current reindustrialisation working group, as self-identified by the Gff, should serve as a delegation to represent the Gff's demands at all institutional tables;
- together with a panel of experts, the delegation should contact the current owner of the property and inquire about the economic conditions for the realisation of the industrial project
- the delegation should recall that the business plan provides for an appropriate rent
- the shareholders ask the Gff to consider a new participation target of €2 million if technical discussions with institutions and investors on reindustrialisation should actually begin
- however, the shareholders declare that if no serious progress has been made by 15 November on the unfulfilled conditions for launching the project, they will have to consider whether or not to confirm their willingness to participate.

This means that we expect an institutional negotiating table to be opened almost immediately.

If we fail this project, we fail a unique social experiment. This will not go unnoticed. For this reason, we are committed to a month of growing counter-information and a moment of assembly and mobilisation on 17 November.
For us and the people's shareholders, the preservation of jobs, climate change, concern for our community, respect for the region in which the factory is located, and the values of mutual aid are our top priorities. For this reason, as soon as the project starts generating profits and interest, we will ask the shareholders to reinvest these profits in social projects for the benefit of the region, in the following areas:

a) Support for relief funds to assist social conflicts, trade union struggles, social spaces that are in difficulty;
b) installation of photovoltaic systems, including free-standing ones, in the slums of our country, especially in areas where people are exploited as agricultural labourers under inhumane conditions, as in Rosarno or in Agro Pontino, in collaboration with all campaigns for self-determination over food and the fight against exploitation along supply chains;
c) a project for the shared use of cargo bikes in neighbourhoods, suburbs, industrial areas and agricultural areas where large sections of the impoverished population are denied mobility;
d) support for alternative media networks that raise awareness of the need for climate justice and social justice
e) support for grassroots sports networks, such as gyms, to promote a different model of athletic activity
The great interest that the people's share is and will be generating should spill over into these and other channels, creating a permanent engine of mutual support, primarily in the area that has defended the factory, for the movements that the workforce has supported and for all social subjects that, out of necessity and conviction, are resisting in this country.

We also confirm our full availability for the realisation of the
Working Class Literature Festival from 4 to 6 April 2025

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We have asummarized the business plan of the Gff cooperative (as of November 2024)

A) Production
1. Photovoltaic systems
production, assembly and recycling
1.1 Production
photovoltaic systems made of monocrystalline silicon, efficiency >22%
standardised and customised solar panels are produced;
production area: 4000 sqm
workplaces: 40
pre-orders: 26 MW (megaWatt) standardised panels
expression of interest from a Spanish company for 47 MW

1.2 Installation of photovoltaic systems
workplaces: 21

1.3 Recycling
In Italy, there are only a few companies that recycle the panels, but there will be a lot of them in the next few years;
collection, reprocessing, recycling and sale of materials; materials will be used for new products;
Production area covered: 2200 sqm
Outdoor production area: 2000 sqm
Jobs: 24 in the first year, 32 in the second, 42 in the third year;

2. cargo bikes
1 model with human power
2. electric models (one of the models is used in Florence by the ethical food delivery company Robin Food)
Jobs: 11

In addition, 10 jobs will be created for the maintenance of the facilities, but this will not be carried out by the cooperative but by a consortium; total jobs: 106
Wages: 40,500 gross for workers, 39,887 for employees;

B) Costs and investments

Investments required: 8,700,000 euros
Personnel costs 1st year: 2,783,000 euros
total: 11,483,000 euros

Calculation
Cooperative deposits: 400,000 euros
Bank loans 7,783,000 euros (2,500,000 of which are promised)
People's shares: 1,300,000 euros
Investor 1: 2,000,000 euros
Total: 11,483,000 euros