As Fiat swings into a two-week shutdown of its Italian plants as a result of slowing domestic demand for its cars it has announced that there will be further temporary lay-offs in March and April. With the reduction and phasing out of automotive sector incentives across Europe as the world emerges from the recession and governments reign back stimulus packages, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has predicted that 350,000 fewer cars will be sold in Italy as a result of the withdrawal of the generous government handouts.

Fiat, which takes almost a third of all domestic car sales, has been the biggest beneficiaries of the 'eco-incentive' scheme. Until the beginning of the month Marchionne has called for the continuation of the incentives before their gradual withdrawal, stating in Fiat’s annual report last month that without them this year’s profits would be flat. However as the future of these incentives began to be linked to the survival of the Termini Imerese factory he performed a U-turn and said he would accept their withdrawal.

The two-week layoff, to balance out the recent slowdown in orders, that affects all Italian car factories including the Fiat-PSA Peugeot Citroën light commercial vehicle joint venture will run until the end of next week. The workers will be paid at a reduced rate during the shutdown with money drawn from the Italian government's temporary layoff fund.

However yesterday it was reported that the Fiat lay-off schemes will then extend into March and April, this time affecting administrative staff. These stoppages will be over two, separate one-week periods and will get underway on March 22-28 when 1,200 office workers will be laid off, before a further 2,400 office staff stop work during the week of April 5-11. At the same time as the first batch of Fiat office staff are absent from their workplaces, 400 office workers at Fiat Powertrain Technologies will also be laid off for that week while 800 more staff from the powertrain division will also be sent home on the week of April 5-11. Finally staff in the purchasing department will also be affected over these two periods with 100 stopping work March 22-28 and 400 during the week of April 5-11.

Meanwhile the bitter fight over Termini Imerese's future has spilled onto the football pitch, with Palermo striker Fabrizio Miccoli saying that the Sicilian side will be thinking of the workers at Termini Imerese whose jobs are threatened when they face Serie A rivals Juventus this weekend. The Juventus football club is owned by the Agnelli family; they are also the largest shareholders in Fiat Group. "Our commitment has never been absent all season and will certainly not be now,” Miccoli told the ANSA news agency yesterday. "But this time we will have extra motivation after the workers of Termini asked us to win for them. Whatever the outcome on the field, we will give everything we have," he continued, adding that: "as a team and as a society we are their neighbours and there are people who spend a lifetime in those factories, who have families and children to feed."