Talks between Italian unions and crisis-hit carmaker Fiat over about 8,000 planned layoffs hit deadlock on Friday, a union official told Reuters.
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“The negotiations have completely stalled,” Gianni Rinaldini, head of the Fiom metalworkers’ union, told Reuters. “The conditions are not there for an agreement on the positions taken by the company and we want a high-level government representative.”
Trying to reduce debt and revive its troubled car division, Fiat is planning a restructuring which includes laying off more than 8,000 staff for at least a year, Reuters said.
Unions and the government are negotiating with the company to try to limit the job losses, the news agency said.
According to Reuters, citing unions, Fiat confirmed on Friday that half of the laid-off workers would not be rehired.
Reuters said the unions had earlier proposed temporary layoffs of one week a month, rotating from plant to plant, saying this would help prevent complete plant closures. But one union leader told the news agency that the company had rejected the proposal.
Reuters said the metalworking divisions of Italy’s three main unions have pledged at least six hours of strikes before December 5, the deadline for Fiat, the government and unions to approve the industrial plan.
