Reuters reports that thousands of Italian workers blocked traffic in Fiat Auto’s home town of Turin, marched into an art gallery in Venice and picketed on the island of Sicily to protest against job cuts.
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According to Reuters Fiat plans to axe 8,100 jobs from next month to cut costs but the proposals have been met with scorn and fury from Italy’s powerful unions, which are demanding a new rescue plan.
In Turin, thousands of workers downed tools for four hours and marched through the arcade-lined centre of town demanding the government put pressure on Italy’s biggest private employer to soften the blow at a meeting on Monday, Reuters said.
Organisers told Reuters that at least 70,000 protesters flooded the streets, including about 75% of Fiat’s blue collar workers but Fiat retorted that only about 24% took part.
In Venice, Reuters said, about 50 anti-globalisation protesters marched into Fiat’s Palazzo Grassi gallery and asked the museum to donate some of its ticket sales to 1,800 workers on the poor island of Sicily who are due to lose their jobs.
Reuters noted that Fiat workers have been striking all over Italy since Fiat unveiled its latest round of job cuts, blocking all sea traffic to the island of Sicily for a day and well as bringing airports in Palermo and Milan to a grinding halt.
Reuters said that Fiat needs government approval to tap into funds to pay workers a fraction of their salaries during planned one-year temporary lay-offs.
A comment this week by industry minister Antonio Marzano that not allowing Fiat to use the government and company-funded temporary layoff programme would mean the workers would just be fired, suggested Fiat would get its necessary “crisis status” soon, Reuters said.
Government ministers, union chiefs and Fiat managers are due to meet in Rome on Monday and parliamentarians should start debating various motions on the carmaker’s crisis from Tuesday, Reuters added.
