A union conglomeration representing Fiat labour has flatly rebuffed Italian government plans to consider alternatives other than car production for the threatened Sicilian plant of Termini Imerese.
Conceding the government had received increasing numbers of offers “growing like grass in a summer field,” the Fiom-Cgil union nonetheless insisted the Sicilian factory should remain dedicated to car production.
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“We are rejecting that the Termini plant could be used for anything else,” a Fiom-Cgil spokesman told just-auto from Rome. “We are only interested in the car industry [and] the union position is the same position as the local government of Sicily.”
The union spokesman raised the possibility of a foreign investor evaluating the factory, which currently employs 1,600 workers directly with a further 1,400 estimated to work in the plant’s supply chain.
“We can’t accept this plant will close,” said the spokesman, adding: “Fiat wants to leave we know, maybe one solution is that a foreign company will come to Italy, maybe from Asia. We are in one of the largest markets in the world.
“Our particular point of view and of Italian unions is that the Termini plant must be a car industry-only plant. Here in Italy, we produce a number of cars which is too little for a big industrial country. If we start to close a plant like Termini, this is not the right way to increase the production of cars.”
Fiat is adamant the factory will close however, although there is a further meeting between the automaker, the Italian government, unions and the Sicilian regional authorities, slated for 5 March.
