Fiat’s increasingly bitter dispute with its FIOM union concerning three dismissed workers is to be heard before the Tribunal of Melfi on 6 October.
FIOM maintains Fiat was told at an original hearing it did not have the right to sack the workers, although it did add the three were being paid but apparently restricted to union activities only.
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All three were present at the Melfi SATA plant in southern Italy this afternoon [24 August] at the 14:00 change of shift, to read a letter in front of employees to be sent to the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano.
The letter’s contents are not known but a FIOM spokesman in Rome told just-auto the three employees were not allowed to work.
“Fiat has said it will pay them but they don’t want to allow them to work,” he said. “Fiat has said it will wait until the second [hearing].”
However, FIOM conceded there would not be a speedy resolution to the situation as the second hearing is not scheduled until 6 October.
For its part, Fiat said in a statement sent to just-auto it wanted to emphasise what it called the “extremely serious” actions of the employees, who they say caused production to stop.
“Although it believes that the first ruling did not adequately address the disciplinary aspects of the matter, SATA has in any event complied with the order issued by the court of Melfi, reinstating the employment relationship with the workers involved in terms of both compensation and their complete freedom to participate in union activities, as well as all other associated rights and privileges,” it said.
Fiat also insisted its actions in relation to the three employees were legitimate and the 6 October hearing would show their actions to be “a willful and protracted obstruction of production”.
