July is the target date for the transfer of 1,000 excess Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA employees into the public sector, at least for more optimistic forecasters, it was reported in Italian business journal Il Sole-24 Ore. It is thought certain that the new government will launch the decree assembled by its predecessors, providing funds for the move, since most of the verbal commitments came from executive branch members. But, so far, nothing of the $2,500m investment in computing promised by government for 1992-4 has been forthcoming. Olivetti has apparently told the workers’ branch of the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro it is expecting to receive a similar level of funding to that of 1991 – $32m. Ministry of Labour meetings earlier this year predicted an infusion of $550m for 1992. About 80 Olivetti employees in southern Italy have already been transferred to a technology centre in Pozzuoli. The fate of the rest will be decided later this summer, the government says.
