LAYOFFS FOR 3,500 PEOPLE – On the one hand there are the declarations, according to which Stellantis would be ready to increase its share of production in Italyon the other there is the reality of layoffs volunteers in exchange for economic incentives for a total of over 3,500 people. On Tuesday, more than 1,500 had been announced for the group’s activities in the city of Turin (including 300 workers from the Mirafiori plant), to which must be added 850 redundancies in Cassino (but the agreement has not yet been reached here) and another 100 jobs involved for the plant that produces engines in Pratola Serra, in the province of Avellino. Yesterday Stellantis and the unions reached further agreements for over 1,000 new layoffs in Melfi, Pomigliano d’Arco and Termoli, concerning both factory workers and other types of workers.
DOUBTS ABOUT PRODUCTION – The news, spread by Fiom (which did not sign the agreements), was confirmed by some Stellantis spokespersons: “They are part of the initiatives implemented to deal with the effects of the process energy transition and technological developments in progress, also on employment”. As mentioned, the cuts take place solely on a voluntary basis and “are mainly aimed at employees who are already close to retirement or willing to take up new professional opportunities”, explained the spokesperson. However, it seems unlikely that reducing the workforce will increase production in Italy. “It’s a plan to shut down work”, comment the Fiom leaders Michele De Palma and Samuele Lodi, inviting the president Giorgia Meloni to ask for explanations and guarantees on production in Italy to the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares.
HEMORRHAGE OF WORKERS – At the moment, Stellantis employs approximately 43,000 people in our country, of which 15,000 in the Turin area. Since 2021, when the FCA group merged with PSA creating Stellantis, the workforce fell by around 12,000 units, thanks also to the voluntary redundancy fund. In recent years, in the plant of Mirafiori the number of cars produced has significantly decreased, retiring employees have not been replaced and several productions have been moved abroad. Already in 2023, Stellantis had offered Turin employees incentives to voluntarily leave the company: it was an incentive based on age, three months’ salary, an allowance for lack of notice to be added to the unemployment provided for by law.
