NEWS
Fiat Panda holds lessons for local industry
Pomigliano plant to take a break during October due to diminishing demand, but workers will returnAuthoritative industry journal Automotive News (Europe) has reported that Fiat will stand down staff at its Pomigliano plant in southern Italy between October 16 and 27.
Staff at the plant will be temporarily laid off in accordance with state-sanctioned legislation, in the face of weaker demand for the Panda built there.
A downturn in demand for the Panda is nothing more than a typical year-end market decline, union boss Giuseppe Terraciano told Automotive News. Fiat itself refused to comment, but did acknowledge that plant operations would wind down during the period reported.
Since the GFC, Italian plants have been running at lower capacity, and 1950 of the 4500 workers at Pomigiliano are already on 'solidarity contracts' – and have been since March of this year. These contracts allow Fiat to employ production line workers at low wage rates, but with the proviso that the workers also spend fewer hours per week in the plant. It ensures that the workers remain employed, but the labour cost base for Fiat is reduced. The idea is in marked contrast with the Australian situation, although Holden did negotiate with workers along similar lines after the GFC hurt demand for the comany's locally-built products. That hasn't ultimately saved Holden or its rival manufacturers in Australia, Ford and Toyota.
Fiat has more wiggle room than Holden, and being its own parent company, can draw upon anticipated sales growth to justify keeping Italian factories open. The company has promised to reinstate all workers currently subject to temporary lay-off, ahead of implementing its five-year investment plan, which should result in global sales of seven million cars within four years (a 60 per cent gain).
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Written byCarsales Staff
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