An estimated 15,000 Fiat workers protested at company headquarters in Turin at the weekend demanding job security.
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They are worried that, if Fiat SpA takes a majority stake in GM Europe’s Opel unit, there will be massive job losses, especially in southern Italy. Fiat has a workforce of some 82,000.
The unions are worried that duplication of products would lead to factory closures; Italian union leaders met with their German counterparts in Frankfurt last week to discuss what was known of Fiat’s plans. German unions’ closer involvement in the running of companies gives them greater insight, one Italian worker told AFP.
Fiat plants said to be threatened include Termini Imerese in Sicily, which builds the Lancia Ypsilon and where unions staged a series of short stoppages last week, and the Alfa Romeo Pomigliano plant near Naples. German unions also think the Opel plant in Kaiserlautern could be earmarked for closure as well as Vauxhall factories in the UK.
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