After
more than a fortnight of an ominous silence the Fiat
Group has today confirmed in a statement that the
less-than-overwhelming vote in favour of its ambitious
plans to move production of the A-segment Fiat Panda to
the Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples next year through
around a 700 million euro investment and a shakeup in
working practices is sufficient enough to see the plans
go ahead.
The
vote by workers at the almost-idled Alfa Romeo factory
last month to accept a raft of proposals that would see
a dramatic increase in shifts, weekend working and
measures to tackle absenteeism and strikes, saw a high
turnout of 95 percent
with 63 percent of the employees voting in favor of the
accord and 36 percent against. Fiat Group CEO Sergio
Marchionne expressed himself underwhelmed by the size of
the vote in favour and in a statement issued in response
the Italian carmaker said: "Fiat
accepts that it is impossible to find common ground with
those parties that are blocking plans for the relaunch
of Pomigliano whose arguments, in its view, are merely a
pretext.."
Since
that statement, issued on June 23, there has been a
deafening silence from Fiat's senior management and
growing anxiety on the part of the unions and government
that Fiat could be set to swap production planning of
the next-generation Panda to another location, possibly
even the newly-acquired Zastava factory in Serbia.
Marchionne has made it clear that there is "no Plan B"
for Pomigliano d'Arco which currently builds the Alfa
Romeo 159, 159 Sportwagon and GT Coupé in dwindling
numbers. The nearly four decade old factory's mainstay
had been the C-segment Alfa 147 but with its successor,
the newly-launched Giulietta, developed around a Fiat
evolved platform and mechanicals its production has been
switched to a Fiat factory where it shares the lines
with Fiat's Bravo and Lancia's Delta.
However today the Fiat Group removed the lingering axe
hanging over the factory and reconfirmed its plans to
build the next-generation Panda at Pomigliano d'Arco.
"Today a meeting was held in Turin between Fiat and the
trade unions CISL-FIM, UIL-UILM and FISMIC," read a
statement issued this afternoon in Turin. "Participants
at the meeting included the General Secretary of CISL,
Raffaele Bonanni, the General Secretary of UIL, Luigi
Angeletti, and the Chief Executive of Fiat, Sergio
Marchionne. At the meeting the parties agreed to
implement the agreement reached with FIM, UILM, FISMIC
and UGL on the 15th of June relating to production of
the future Panda at Pomigliano d’Arco.
"All
signatories to the agreement agreed, given the vote in
favor from a significant majority of the workers, on the
need to guarantee continuity for the plant and the local
supplier base and, in so doing, offering the employees
at Pomigliano improved prospects for the future," the
press release continued. "The Company and the trade
unions that signed the agreement expressed their
commitment to its implementation through mechanisms that
will ensure the greatest operating flexibility at the
plant. Execution of the agreement according to the
stipulated terms and conditions is essential to Fiat
maintaining its commitment to realisation of the
Fabbrica Italia project."
