In order to be able to invest €1 billion (US $1.31 billion) in a joint venture with Chrysler, Fiat needed to secure agreements with all unions representing its factory workers. However, a more hard-line Italian union, FIOM, is refusing to sign the deal Fiat is proposing for the Mirafiori plant and announced that it will go on strike later this month. In retaliation, the automaker threatened to withdraw the cash “should it not be satisfied”.
According to FIOM, CEO Sergio Marchionne managed to convince the FIM-CISL, UILM, UGL and FISMIC unions and a vote will be held on January 13-14 among Fiat employees represented by those unions to ratify the deals.
In the meantime, FIOM is staging an eight-hour strike for January 28 at the Mirafiori and other Fiat plants plus Italian institutions, labeling the deal as “an awful agreement”.
“This agreement by Fiat is outside the national metalworkers agreement as if it was a house built in a desert”, a FIOM spokesman in Italy told Just Auto. “All the other unions have signed, but FIOM has refused. We have called a strike but not only in Fiat - all of Italy on 28 January for eight hours. It is an awful agreement”, he added.
FIOM is objecting to alleged changes that Fiat wants to implement, regarding future strike rights, break times and sickness benefits.
By Csaba Daradics
Source: Just Auto [Sub. Req.]
_______________________________GALLERY_______________________________
17 Comments:
The workers have many valid points. They're paying for every stupid mistake ever made by Fiat's administration (the "non solo auto" doctrine that bankrupted Fiat, the failed marriage with GM, the administration's poor relationships with the Italian government and banks), while the Agnelli descendants, the stockholders (who don't give a damn about the company anyway) and the top brass get first dibs on whatever money is made.
Like I just mentioned, those who bankrupted Fiat (because, let's face it, the company IS bankrupt) are getting paid pretty damn well, without actually working for the firm, without contributing a single thing in R&D, added value, nothing at all. Those who do try, however (and I mean engineers, researchers and workers) are getting the shaft, with "cassa integrazione" (redundancies), which is the only thing that the Italian automaker has been producing during the past two years.
They have every right to be pissed off. All they see is unemployment and poverty for them and their colleagues, through absolutely no fault of their own - and yet, the ones who drove Fiat into this mess not only are getting away with murder, they are actually turning a good profit, like some sort of karma Houdini.
@Ο Αιρετικός - The Heretic,
An outstanding post on your part. Unfortunately, the propaganda regarding unions here in the States, is primarily negative. Some of that negatively is warranted, some of it not. In the world today we are seeing those who fail on large scale, and whom are large themselves, only assisted to fail again in the future. We have stifled innovation, strangled upstarts, and fear any realistic challenges, and changes.
they can go on strike as long as they want, there are enough unsold cars out there, it would take Fiat & Chrysler several years to sell them all. that is if anyone wants to buy.
Let's face it: the majority of the blame for any company's failures is entirely on the hands of the management. The employees follow the administration. If the administration does a good job, the employees will follow. If the administration fails, it takes everyone down with it. Those Milton Friedman groupies who say "oooh, bad workers, commie unions wantin' ta shut down biznishis" have never, NEVER worked for a single hour in their lives and don't know a thing about how something rather worthless, like a piece of scrap metal, can be turned into something useful and marketable (such as an engine). When, and only when, they start actually working (instead of playing the bigtime investor in a manner that reminds me of a fat, spoilt brat playing Super Mario Bros), only then am I ever going to listen to whatever they have to say. Until then, I'm not going to accept any "argument" from the monetarist/neo-liberal Milton Friedman-Friedrich Hayek groupies.
And there's another problem in the US: most Americans don't know what "socialism" means - everyone thinks it's Stalinism or Soviet-style "communism" (and the Soviet system was anything BUT communist; it was a totalitarian, corrupt kleptocracy, with lots of kickbacks and lots of under-the-table dealings, mostly with the weapons industries).
at the heretic:
it wasnt real communism??? really??? no Sh*t Sherlock!
Every realist and pro-capitalist has known that forever.
But thats how it's sold, eh? Pretty words, utopic scenarios that can never come true because they are lies and based on false premises and ill-intended to begin with.
Where are the examples of greatness, of wealth and freedom to all and for all provided by the socialists???
Where are the great companies that have been able to become industry leaders, great success stories with both wealth for their workers and great products thanks to unions?
Tell you what, why dont you and like-minded individuals form a few companies and unionize them to the max.
I beg to differ from most of your arguments. Especially about the one of the American people: This country is made of people from all over that came fleeing communist, socialist, economic and political oppression ... and understand PRETTY well the role unions play in the name of the Worker [or should I say proletariat], their link to communism or socialism, and the extent to which they are corrupt.
Curiously, as American car companies go under due to rising costs, Japanese and Korean car companies invest in the US and hire American workers and seem to surpass their American counterparts. Could one of the keys to that success be they don't have unions?
Pure communism can never exist because it is not in man's nature at all. Someone or some group messes it all up somewhere along the line. But even if it succeeded as intended, it wouldnt be that great anyway.
Hey Ive never seen people leave the US en masse to go live in a socialist regime or one where highly unionized workforce exists to go seek opportunities... I have seen it the other way around though. hmmmm...
--JORGE
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Jorge,
You obviously don't know anything about politics and political systems. Go study a little and compare practice to ideology and theory and then come back. Let me break this to you, though: Faux News' "journalists" and GOP's "analysts" are anything but reliable when it comes to telling you what each political system is and what it's not.
Chrysler, a cancer to all car manufacturers...
Chrysler moves in and the union goes on strike. Get used to it Fiat, it's the 'Merican way! Chrysler's comeback is being sabotaged by a union before it has a chance to start. Who said the Italians aren't fast learners! Too bad that the Atlantic Ocean isn't the buffer from union slackers that the powers-that-be at Chrysler thought it was going to be.
That's real funny as I politics was my field, and what I majored in so I do know a thing or two about a thing or two ...
Plus I lived the resultant misery of such a system.
It is true that socialism as practiced in Western Europe with its Christian and democratic base is a lot different than anything else anywhere. And I'll grant you that unions do or may have a role to play. Unfortunately when most are corrupt and feed you the bullcrap of a bankrupt system of politics and economic principles, and are supported and funded by the left, and speak using communist language, well, I can't really back them up and must call them for what they are.
There is a middle ground and I dont believe in the extreme right, but anything left of center-right has to be looked at with suspicion.
Europe for all it wonders and progress is broke. This crisis could have come as a result of anything that would have stressed the system.
And just calling me ignorant and not addressing any of the questions I posed, does not an argument win.
But as far as car manufacturers are concerned, I find it really curious that Hyundai, Toyota, Honda have plants and design studios in the US where labor is much more expensive than in their home country or some place else, they thrive, workers are happy to be there, their products are of equal to or greater quality than their American counterparts and retail for about the same! Yet US companies have plants in Mexico and Canada to avoid US labor costs and still go under!!! What is one significant factor that's different? Could it be Unions?
To the anonymous that posted Churchill's quote, thank you so much. It's an outstanding quote.
--JORGE
@ the heretic as well:
You might think you have the knowledge to be a true heresthetician, but your lack of common sense fogs the very basis of your claims.
The only point I see from your postings is that you must love to hear yourself speak.
I agree with Jorge in the fact that you are afraid to answer questions posed to you. You truly are a 'heretically' professed believer who maintains personal opinions contrary to those accepted by ones facts or in fact rejects doctrines prescribed by ones facts. You have failed to take your heretic faith and apply it to this very topic.
It is the Unions that have forced the automotive companies into poor product quality and eventually into the grips of bankruptcy. As for corruption of upper management, is it not the Union management you speak of? They will do whatever it takes to keep their jobs and make that beloved Euro or Dollar. They feed the union worker propaganda and force them to walk away from a decent paying job. And for what, unemployment?
The Japanese have rewarded their US employees with performance-based wages and benefits and have even distributed bonuses to those who excel.
Go back to your research and reread whatever you feel you have learned, because in the real world, you sound like an educated Moron.
In the real world, you jackass, it is recognized that the one issuing commands assumes responsibility for their effectiveness and does not put the blame on his subordinates.
To say that it's the workers that are at fault for the administration's decision to make models that no one wants to buy is akin to a general accusing his soldiers for getting killed in a suicide mission.
LOL, Chrysler making a comeback? You idiots, first you'll have to learn how to make proper cars that anyone with at least half a brain will want to buy and then start spewing your ridiculous bravado.
@JORGE and the rest of the idiots:
I love the fact that, whenever you guys that shill for the administration's privilege to bear no responsibility whatsoever for its failings (passing the blame to those under its command), you go out and cry "communism", "socialism" etc.
I'll put aside your complete ignorance of political and social systems and I'll tackle what I just said in the previous paragraph:
So, what you're telling us is that an incompetent manager who makes bad decisions is NOT to blame for them - you're telling us that an incompetent manager should receive his exorbitant bonuses, REGARDLESS of whether he's successful or not.
Your entire philosophy is a philosophy of FAILURE. You ACCEPT failure and FORGIVE it, you even REWARD it - as long as it's the administration's failure. But woe betide if the one who's failed is a "lowly worker".
You know, that's not even capitalist - because capitalism rewards success. Your thinking, on the other hand, is ridiculously similar to the thinking of the nobles of the feudal systems, who thought they were privileged, "chosen" to rule, "destined" to never being held accountable for their actions. How unamerican of you, to promote feudalism, lack of accountability and aristocratic privileges against merit, personal responsibility and democracy...
You call yourselves capitalists. Bah!
Don't you just love how all these neo-liberal bond-huggin' monetarist yuppie wannabies have embraced an economic and political system that bears shocking similarities to medieval aristocracy?
The aristocrat-manager is NEVER to blame for his being a miserable failure; he keeps getting his bonuses, kickbacks and ridiculously high salaries. But the commoners (workers and middle-ranking employees) are the ones to blame for the manager's mistakes.
I thought we Americans were all about holding the administration or whoever is in charge accountable for his actions and mistakes. I thought we rewarded success and punished failure, EVEN if the one who failed was the President himself.
Now I see these neo-liberal, bond-huggin' monetarist yuppie wannabes promote the idea that "hey, the manager is NEVER to blame, even if he makes the most EPIC blunder".
Indeed, JORGE and his cronies are promoting a philosophy of FAILURE.
LOL@ "neo-lberal bond-huggin' monetarist yuppie wannabes". That hit the nail on the head. With the kind of cars Chrysler and Fiat have been making these past 10 years, I'm amazed they're still in business.
If Fiat and Chrysler want to succeed, they need to make GOOD CARS. And especially Fiat, which has three greatly-respected brands in its portfolio (Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati), had better start making cars that will live up to its brands' legacy. People will accept buying Fiats that are cut-price versions of proper Alfa Romeos and Lancias. But, as has been proven through sales statistics and neither Fiat's top brass nor the neo-liberal, bond-huggin' monetarist yuppie wannabes here can understand, people do NOT want to buy posh or tricked-out Fiats posing as Lancias and Alfa Romeos.
And now they want to sell Chryslers and Dodges posing as Lancias and Alfa Romeos? THAT will be beyond ridiculous. I'm sure the dealers will have plenty of time to enjoy the sound of the crickets in the showrooms.
And in the meantime, the idiotic managers that have made these preposterous, stupid and insulting to the buying public decisions, will keep getting their bonuses for being... FAILURES.
So, is it the workers' fault that the management decides to produce CRAPPY cars? Wow, I love the "logic" employed by JORGE and the other neo-liberal morons in here.
One is only to blame for HIS decisions, jerks.
Post a Comment