Fiat union FIOM insists this Friday’s (9 March) strike and demonstration will go ahead in protest at grievances concerning a national bargaining agreement and fears surrounding a possible shift in manufacturing strategy.
Speculation has also centred on possible closures of Fiat’s plants at Mirafiori and Pomigliano d’Arco, but it is the potential move to produce vehicles in Italy for sale in the US that has irked FIOM.
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Any move by Fiat to implement such a strategy would be a negation of CEO Sergio Marchionne’s attempts to introduce the so-called Fabbrica Italia restructuring and investment plan according to FIOM.
“Nothing will change our mind – not from here to Friday,” a FIOM spokesman in Italy told just-auto. [General secretary] Maurizio Landini said Marchionne [comments] is the first time he says the strategy of Fiat is to produce cars in Italy to sell in the US. This means Fabbrica Italia does not exist any more.
“When Marchionne presented this plan, the goal was to produce and sell cars in Italy or in Europe. If he now says he wants to produce cars in Italy to sell in the US, it means the strategy is a new one.”
Any such move would form part of the reason for the strike this week, noted FIOM, but the walkout is also to protest about the Italian metal industry general agreement, which the union claims “does not exist any more.”
FIOM is calling on the new Italian unity government – formed in the white heat of the country’s on-going financial crisis – to call Marchionne for a meeting to explain any new strategy – “to hear from the voice of the CEO” as to Fiat’s future plans.
“This is a question that is very important for our country,” said the FIOM spokesman. “The government can not be considered as a left wing or right wing government – this is a national unity government.
“We have to judge not the government, but each act of the government.”
According to FIOM, at today’s Geneva Motor Show Marchionne said Fiat’s Italian plants were not at risk, although only two weeks ago, he did not rule out the possibility.
Fiat in Turin or Geneva was not immediately available for comment.
