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Italian Premier Silvio
Berlusconi said he hoped Fiat's new production plans do
not come with a high cost for the nation after the
carmaker decided to shift production of a new model to
Serbia, causing a major stir, reports the ANSA
news agency.
Fiat said Wednesday that a new vehicle that will replace
its Multipla and Lancia Musa models, the L0, will be
made in Serbia and not, as had been expected, at the
Mirafiori factory in its home city Turin. The move comes
after Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said a plan agreed last
year to increase the group's production in Italy will be
slowed following tensions with the FIOM trade union,
which is linked to the nation's biggest union CGIL.
''In a free economy, an industrial group is free to
place production where it is most suitable,'' Berlusconi
told a press conference after a meeting with Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev. ''However, I hope that this
does not take place at the expense of Italy and of the
(Italian) workers Fiat employs''. Earlier on Friday the
government warned Fiat not to make such decisions
without consulting labour leaders.
''We call on Marchionne
not to act unilaterally, but to have talks with the
unions,'' Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said.
''Marchionne said he was ready to invest in Italian
plants and increase their capacity to the degree in
which he had normal, non-conflictual industrial
relations, without wildcat strikes and hold-ups from
individual workers.
''These issues must be taken back to the negotiating
table to encourage investments, and not provide alibis
for making different choices''. FIOM irked Fiat by
opposing a flexible working practices deal designed to
boost productivity that the company proposed at the
Pomigliano d'Arco plant near Naples in exchange for a
pledge to invest 700 million euros to make Panda cars
there. FIOM claimed the accord is against the Italian
constitutional because it infringes on workers' right to
strike. In the end Fiat decided to press ahead with the
programme this month after other unions agreed to it,
despite being disappointed that only around 62% of
Pomigliano workers supported it in a vote.
CGIL has described the decision to make the L0 in Serbia
as part of Fiat's strategy of allegedly bullying its
Italian workers into accepting whatever conditions it
offers them. FIOM ordered a two-hour strike by its
members at Fiat's Italian plants Friday to protest at
the recent sacking of five workers at different
factories, dismissals which unions have also described
as intimidatory. Administrative Simplification Minister
Roberto Calderoli, meanwhile, described the L0 move as
''outrageous'' Thursday. ''You cannot turn up at the
dinner table, eat thanks to government incentives to buy
cars and state aid, and then take off without even
paying the bill,'' Calderoli said.
The decision to shift the new model's production to
Serbia also caused dismay among opposition parties. Pier
Luigi Bersani, who heads Italy's largest centre-left
opposition group, the Democratic Party (PD), said Friday
that rather than calling for negotiations, the
government should directly summon Fiat and the unions to
talks. However, Turin Mayor Sergio Chiamparino, a PD
member, said he was confident the Mirafiori plant's
future was not in danger after speaking to Marchionne on
the telephone. ''I asked Marchionne if it was possible
to tackle the issue of Mirafiori and it seemed to me
that there was great willingness on his part and a
desire not to prejudice the T in Fiat,'' Chiamparino
said. Fiat is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana
Automobili Torino - Italian Automobile Factory of Turin.
Chiamparino also called on trade unions to do their bit
with a ''turning point in reliability''.
Fiat also came under heavy fire from unions and
politicians last year when it announced plans to shut
down its Termini Imerese plant in Sicily. The company's
share price rose over 6 percent Wednesday when it
announced better-than-expected profit figures for the
second quarter and confirmed plans to spin off its auto
businesses from other parts of the group.
Report courtesy of
ANSA
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