Italian unions have called a one-day strike on Oct. 18 for metal workers at Stellantis and its local suppliers to protest the carmaker’s production cuts in the country, the head of the UILM union said on Tuesday.
right Reutersmost Stellantis factories in Italy saw a steep drop in production in the first half of the year, data from trade union FIM-CISL shows, with an overall drop of 25%. The union now expects Stellantis to produce just over half a million vehicles in Italy this year, up from 751,000 in 2023.
“The situation is bad, very bad,” UILM’s Rocco Palombella told a news conference with the leaders of FIOM and FIM-CISL, Italy’s other two main metalworkers’ unions.
Operations at Stellantis’ Italian units have been halted repeatedly in recent months, mainly due to weak demand, particularly for electric vehicles, with workers being put on furlough schemes, partly funded by public money.
Stellantis Italia employees want to go on strike because of the current situation
The group has been in talks with the Italian government for months over a plan to increase production in the country back to one million vehicles by the end of this decade, but there has been no agreement so far.
Meanwhile, Rome has also started talks with Chinese automakers to attract new manufacturers to join Stellantis, Italy’s only major automaker.
Palombella said the unions had doubts about the government’s strategy to attract a new carmaker, while they called on the Stellantis group to increase production amid weak market demand.
He also criticized a car purchase incentive scheme launched by the government earlier this year. “The scheme didn’t work,” Palombella said.
Stellantis also faces a potential strike by the United Auto Workers union in the United States, which accuses the group of breaking contractual promises.
Source: www.promotor.ro
