On October 7, Reuters reported that Pfizer Inc. plans to eliminate approximately 330 positions at its factory in Sicily, Italy, which accounts for roughly 60% of the site's current workforce of 550 employees.

The facility, located in Catania, Sicily, serves as a key production base for Pfizer in Italy, covering an area of about 113,300 square meters and specializing in injectable antibiotics for hospital frontline use, including penicillin and non-penicillin products.

Italy's three major trade unions CGIL, CISL, and UIL issued a joint statement indicating that the plant's penicillin production unit is set to close, and the company has so far refused to take measures to absorb and redeploy affected workers.

The unions are demanding that Pfizer withdraw its layoff plan and formulate a genuine revitalization and development strategy for the facility. A workers' assembly will be held in the coming days to discuss possible protest and mobilization actions.

The three unions stated that negotiations held Tuesday evening in Rome between Pfizer and Italy's Ministry of Industry failed to reach an agreement. The ministry has requested that the layoff procedure be extended to 12 months, and Industry Minister Adolfo Urso is scheduled to conduct an on-site inspection of the factory on October 23, with a new round of negotiations set for November 10.

In response, Pfizer has not yet issued a formal announcement.

Pfizer began reducing staff at the plant in early 2022 due to a significant decline in market demand for the medicines produced there, namely penicillin-based injectables and hospital-specific drugs.