Posted on December 25th, 2011 • by Bill Cawthon
Workers at Fiat’s Cassino – Piedimonte San Germano plant are confronting an idle Christmas and a not-so-happy New Year. All 4,300 of the plant’s employees have been furloughed through January 9, 2012 and they will be working just three days a week when they return.
The Cassino plant builds the Fiat Bravo, Lancia Delta and Alfa Romeo Giulietta and total output is about 600 cars a day. The union workers, who have approved a Pomigliano-style labor contract, are waiting to see if a new vehicle will be assigned to their plant or if they will be working part-time for nearly a year waiting for the next generation Giulietta.
Posted on December 14th, 2011 • by Bill Cawthon
Fiat has new contracts covering 86,000 of its employees in the FIM, UILM, UGL and Fismic unions. The agreements have been signed in Turin. As expected, FIOM, the Italian metalworkers union, was not a party to the signing.
According to Rocco Palombella, secretary-general of UILM, the new contracts confirm Fiat’s investments in Italian factories and the company’s pledge to remain in Italy.
In exchange for more shifts and shorter breaks, workers will get a 600 euro (about $783) bonus and a 5.2% increase in base pay in 2012. In addition, the agreements cover a 10% increase for overtime, the reaffirmation of two levels of bargaining and a new job classification. Union representation will be based on the proportion of employees belonging to each union.
On the key issue of absenteeism, the new agreements provides protection for workers who use the system honestly while providing deterrents for those do not have a valid reason for missing work. This had been one of the most contentious items in the negotiations.
Fiat Spa released a letter from CEO Sergio Marchionne commenting on the new contract:
“The agreement signed today represents an historic turning point for Fiat and Fiat Industrial and our workers.
“The new contract provides us a modern instrument that reflects international standards for the industry and will enable both groups to operate more efficiently and create the conditions essential for continued investment in Italy.
“In addition, it guarantees that all existing rights of our workers remain unchanged and enables them to be the first to benefit from an increase in productivity. There will, in fact, be concrete financial benefits from increased utilization of plant capacity and greater flexibility for overtime.
“It is an agreement that provides significant advantages for everyone.
“Reaching an agreement was not easy, but everyone at the table understood perfectly that perpetuating the models of the past – the models responsible for our plants in Italy falling so far behind standards in the rest of the world – was no longer possible.
“Everyone remained focused on the same objective: to create a system that rewards workers for the success of the business while, at the same time, guaranteeing that Fiat and Fiat Industrial can become more competitive.
“The unions that embraced this challenge alongside us deserve recognition for their courage to change things, for adopting an innovative approach, the only approach through which a solid basis for the future, for growth and progress, can be built.
“Today demonstrates that significant steps forward can be made when parties join forces and work in the same direction with a true commonality of purpose.
“It is also a demonstration of the will of the majority within society to say no to the professional critics, to roll up their sleeves and resolve the problems and, above all, do the work necessary to find the solutions.
“It is also, I believe, a symbol of significant hope for this nation.”
Posted on December 12th, 2011 • by Bill Cawthon
Fiat saw about 13% of its union workers join a general, one-day strike called by FIOM, the Italian metalworkers’ union. FIOM called for an eight-hour strike to protest the new government of Mario Monti and the decision by Fiat to unilaterally terminate its labor agreements.
Italy’s other three major labor organizations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, gave limited support to the strike.
FIOM says it is still counting the number of workers that participated and hopes to have a clearer picture by tomorrow.
While the strike did not change the agreement that will be signed between Fiat and unions representing a majority of its employees, it did postpone the signing for another day. FIOM, which has already lost a court challenge to the new contract’s terms, will not be a party to the signing.
Fiat would like to have the contract signed before Wednesday, when CEO Sergio Marchionne and board chairman John Elkann travel to Naples to make the official announcement that the Pomigliono d’Arco plant will be the production site for the new Panda, one of Fiat’s best-selling vehicles.
Posted on December 12th, 2011 • by Bill Cawthon
Fiat hopes to finalize a new labor agreement with Italian unions today, but there are some potential stumbling blocks. While Bloomberg News cites Italian newspaper La Stampa as saying the new accord will be completed, Il Sole 24 Oro reports that Rocco Palombella, secretary-general of UILM, the Italian Union of Metallurgical Workers, is still holding out on the issues of overtime and absenteeism, sticking points that were thought to have been resolved in weekend meetings. Palombella says union leadership will meet today to discuss the contract.
Joking that Palombella has “the fastest trigger in the West,” Bruno Vitali, secretary-general of FIM, another union, said there is a need to get the contract finished or risk losing all the work that has been done. The new agreements must be completed and ratified by December 31st, the date on which Fiat has said it will terminate all of its current labor contracts.
